Tangible Information

Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner

2009-07-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Bruno pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

With "Bruno," the comic and satirist Sacha Baron Cohen completes a trilogy of films based on characters originally created for English television: a suburban would-be hiphopper (Ali G), a sex-mad Kazakh TV host (Borat), and, now, a gay Austrian fashionista seeking worldwide fame.

Like its predecessor films "Ali G Indahouse" and "Borat," "Bruno" is crude both in form and content while at the same time capable of evoking explosions of shocked and, often, shamed laughter. It is a smorgasbord of scatology, audacity and embarrassment encased in a hastily and, it must be said, shoddily crafted frame. And its brazen efforts to embody and/or confront stereotypes of race and sexuality never feel fully conceived or absorbed.

Brüno is a 2009 British/American mockumentary bouffon-styled comedy film directed by Larry Charles. Sacha Baron Cohen, who also produced and co-wrote the movie, stars as the flamboyant gay Austrian fashion journalist Brüno. This film is the third based on characters from Da Ali G Show, following Ali G Indahouse and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Plot

Gay Austrian fashion reporter Brüno is fired from his show after disrupting a catwalk show during Milan Fashion week. Accompanied by his assistant's assistant Lutz, he travels to the United States to become a superstar.

After a pilot of a celebrity interview show (mostly consisting of him dancing erotically, suggesting Jamie-Lynn Spears get an abortion, stalking Harrison Ford, and showing his penis uncensored for thirty seconds onscreen, including the penis singing) bombs with a test audience, he attempts to become famous via various other methods. In an attempt to create a sex tape, he arranges an interview with Ron Paul (unsuspectingly "played" by himself), and while the two wait for a staged technical problem to be fixed, Brüno starts hitting on Ron Paul who leaves angrily, after calling him a "queer".

He consults advisers to select a world problem for which he can become a charity spokesperson; he selects the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has an interview with former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib in which Brüno asks silly questions. He later arranges a meeting with a leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a recognized terrorist organization, in an attempt to get kidnapped, first insulting his hair, then suggesting "King Osama" looks like a dirty wizard or a homeless version of Santa Claus. His translator reluctantly relays the message, and orders Brüno to get out.

In a TV talk show, he shows the black audience a black baby (named O.J.) who he acquired in Africa by "swapping him" for a U2 iPod. The audience is appalled. Social Services take the boy away from Brüno, driving him into severe depression and gorging himself on high-carb junk food to commit "carbicide". Lutz carries him home and has sex with Brüno, who is under the influence of "carb goggles". When they awaken, they are trapped in an elaborate bondage mechanism with the key out of their reach. When they call a bellhop for help, they are told to leave the hotel without the gear being removed. After attempting to board a bus, Brüno and Lutz are taken to the police station. The equipment is removed, and Brüno angrily tells Lutz they are not a couple, and he does not love him. Lutz leaves him.

Brüno seeks help to become heterosexual after realizing that the biggest names in Hollywood are straight (citing Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey and John Travolta). Attempting to turn his sexual orientation around, he finds himself attempting to do "straight" activities such as joining the national guard, going hunting, learning karate, and even attending a swinger party (all of which activities he fails at miserably amidst his still-apparent homosexual traits).

Eight months later, a now-heterosexual Brüno, under the alias "Straight Dave", hosts a cage-fight match. Lutz, who is at the event, calls him gay, and the two fight, only to rekindle their love, making out and stripping in front of aghast spectators. The spectators are so upset that the begin to throw various objects into the cage, among them plastic cups and a metal folding chair. The final scene shows a now-famous Brüno, together with Lutz and O.J., whom he got back in exchange for a MacBook Pro. Over the closing credits, Brüno records a charity song with celebrities Bono (from U2), Elton John, Snoop Dogg, Chris Martin (from Coldplay), Sting (from The Police) and Slash (from Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver).

Production

During Cohen's middle east interview of Alpher and Khatib, neither were unaware of the farcical nature of the questions which deliberately conflated Hamas and hummus and indicated that the conflict is between Jews and Hindus.

On June 6, 2008, a riot ensued at a stunt orchestrated by Baron Cohen and the producers of the film as they staged a "Blue Collar Brawlin'" in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Patrons were lured to an event billed as cage fighting, held at a convention centre, by print and Craigslist advertisements, promoting "hot girls", $1 beer, and $5 admission. Approximately 1500 people attended the event and were greeted by signs that informed them that they were being filmed. No mobile phones, video, or cameras were allowed inside. Instead of hot girls and cage fighting, the acts taking place became homosexual in nature and people threw chairs and beer at the performers. The performers were Brüno (Baron Cohen) under the ironic gimmick, "Straight Dave" and Gustaf Hammarsten portraying his opponent.

In July 2008, Tyler, Texas television station KETK-TV was approached by a "documentary film-maker" who was allowed to bring a crew to interview a few members of the staff, including news director Neal Barton and sports director Danny Elzner. They signed releases and expected to be talking about small-town news in the United States. Instead, the interviews conducted by the flamboyant Brüno character drifted towards the topic of homosexuality.

In September 2008, video and photographs were released showing Baron Cohen (in character as Brüno) storming the catwalk with objects on his velcro outfit during an Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada fashion show in Milan, Italy. Baron Cohen managed to walk down the runway for a few moments before lights were dimmed and security guards escorted him away. This occurred after Baron Cohen and his crew were allegedly stopped by security while attempting to enter back-stage at two other shows during Milan's fashion week.

On November 2, 2008, Baron Cohen, dressed as Brüno, and his film crew were spotted at a Los Angeles rally in support of California's Proposition 8. Though he appeared to fool most, he was recognized by some at the rally and whisked away before he could be interviewed by reporters. On November 7, while appearing as an extra in a scene for Medium, Baron Cohen interrupted a scene in character and was removed from the set. Production on the episode was shut down temporarily.

The production team also deceived former presidential candidate Ron Paul into being interviewed by Brüno by posing as an Austrian TV reporter looking to question the congressman about economic issues. According to sources at Slate magazine, the interview starts out normally, but after a staged technical error, Brüno suggests he and Dr. Paul wait in the other room while the crew fixes a light. It is there that Brüno turns on music and begins dancing, which Ron Paul ignores at first. However, as soon as Brüno drops his pants, the congressman storms out of the room. A spokeswoman for Paul commented on the incident. She said Baron Cohen's people were very deceptive in their tactics.

At the time, she thought they were "legitimate" but now[when?] confesses to some concern. "I'm familiar with his work, so you can imagine how I feel about it," she said. Jesse Benton, senior vice-president of Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty organization and former campaign spokesman for Paul, said Paul was not familiar with Baron Cohen's program, Da Ali G Show. "If it's not on hard-core financial news, he doesn't follow it," Benton said. But, he added, "It sounds like it's going to be pretty funny."

Baron Cohen suffered a severe reaction to hydrogen peroxide after bleaching his hair in preparation for the role of Brüno. Although the incident temporarily slowed the production of the movie, he suffered no long-lasting injuries.[11]

Release

Though the film was originally slated for a May 15, 2009 release,[12] the release was later moved to July 10, 2009.[13] The film received an early release in Australia, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands,[citation needed] New Zealand,[14] and Iceland[citation needed] on July 8 and in Germany,Greece, Serbia,[citation needed] Slovenia,[15] Israel,[citation needed], Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina[16] on July 9. The film was then released internationally on July 10, 2009.

Rating

MPAA: Rated R for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

Upon its initial review, the film was given an NC-17 rating.[17] However, it has been suggested that Sacha Baron Cohen and the film's producers purposefully included material which would guarantee such a rating in order to drum up publicity for the film.[18] It was reedited to qualify for an R rating with the possibility of deleted scenes reinserted for an Unrated DVD release.[19]

It received an 18 rating by the BBFC. In Canada, the film received an 18A rating, with Quebec assigning a 16+ classification. In Australia it received an MA 15+ rating, while in New Zealand it received an R16 rating. The Irish Film Classification Office gave the film a 16 rating (the 16 rating in Ireland however is theatrical only, meaning it will most likely be released with a 18 cert on DVD). In contrary, in Sweden, the film has been labeled with the certificate to allow 11-year olds to view the film, or 7-year-olds with an accompanying adult.

Promotion

In a publicity stunt at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Sacha Baron Cohen appeared as Brüno to present the award for Best Male Performer. Dressed as a winged angel wearing a jockstrap and white go-go boots, he was suspended on wires and flew over the audience towards the stage. However, before he made it to the stage, he fell and landed on rapper Eminem, with his head in Eminem's lap and his buttocks in front of Eminem's face. Eminem shouted "Are you fucking serious?" and "Get this motherfucker off me!" with the live censors unable to completely block the profanity in his outburst, until they completely cut off the audio (this despite the event being staged).[20] Eminem and his entourage then walked out of the show and didn't return. It was later revealed that Eminem and Cohen had staged this whole event, even rehearsing it beforehand to make sure it went off without a hitch.[21]

Brüno also appeared on The Tonight Show where he performed a lap dance for host Conan O'Brien and ultimately removed his pants.

Reception

Reviews

Reviews of the premier screenings of Brüno were generally very positive and acclaimed among audiences. Nick Curtis of the Evening Standard wrote that Brüno is "funnier, more offensive, and more outrageous than Borat."[22] The Telegraph gave the film four stars out of four, saying "impossible not to laugh and also praising Brüno's controversial style of comedy."[23] The BBC also gave the film a positive review, saying "Bruno pushes the boundaries further than Borat ever did." However, they also said that "It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea" due to the offensive nature of the film.[24] Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, and said "Here is a film that is 82 minutes long and doesn't contain 30 boring seconds", although he warned that the film's R rating was "very, very hard".[25]

Andy Lowe from Total Film gave it a lower review, giving it three stars out of five and calling it "as phoney and frustrating as it is funny...The clothes may be new and more fabulous, but the emperor seriously needs to go shopping."[26]The film was not well-received by The Guardian, who described Bruno as, "a product of Sacha Baron Cohen's bourgeois sexual neuroses."[27]The Guardian described Cohen's character of Bruno as a, "shameless vent to his typical public schoolboy's obsession with buggery and banal anal perversions," later raising questions about Cohen's apparent obsession with homosexuality, even in his late thirties.[27]

The film currently holds a 71% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is advertised as a "Certified Fresh Pick". However, it is still 21% behind Cohen's previous film, Borat. [28]

Reception in Austria

While Borat was highly criticised in Kazakhstan, Austrians were generally positive about Brüno. Some commented that the film places Austria on the spotlight, and that "it might stop people confusing Austria with Australia and it might make people remember Hitler is Austrian not German, (a fact that foreigners) seem to (get) muddled up". Others regarded the humour as "pretty average" and "inoffensive to Austria."[29] Within the Austrian press, reactions have been generally mild and positive, although the film has also been labelled as "repetitive". Christian Fuchs, from the Austrian radio station FM4, writes that "hidden beneath the hard-as-nails satirist Cohen, lies a humanist who enlightens." However, the film has also met some opposition in Austria, due to its portrayal of homosexuality, and basing the country of Austria on motifs such as Josef Fritzl and Hitler,[30] even going as far as calling Mel Gibson "der Führer". Emil Brix, Austria's envoy to the United Kingdom, called for a boycott of the film, criticizing the film's "cheap" jokes, denouncing the film as "completely improper and unsuitable", and stating that the film tarnishes Austria's public image.

Lawsuit

On May 22, 2009, a charity worker at a seniors bingo game sued Baron Cohen, claiming an incident shot for the film at a charity bingo tournament left her disabled.[31] However, the worker later retracted her statement saying the "actor never struck her", but that he "beat her down emotionally to the point she's now confined to a wheelchair."[32]

Title

Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt was a mock-title proposed by Hollywood-news and gossip blog Defamer[33][34] and mistakenly reported as genuine by a number of sources of film information, including the Daily Star[35], The Irish Times, Internet Movie Database, and The Guardian.[36]

Michael Jackson incidents

Following the sudden death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, a scene from Brüno was hastily removed from the film before its Hollywood premiere later that evening. The scene involved Brüno tricking La Toya Jackson into an interview where he asked her to take a seat on hunched over Mexican workers substituting for chairs and invited her to eat sushi from the back of a naked man. Brüno then proceeded to steal her mobile phone in order to get her brother Michael's phone number. The scene was later confirmed to be removed from the film permanently,[37] although a similar scene involving Paula Abdul did make it into the final cut of the film.

Further controversy arose when preparation for the premiere caused Michael Jackson's Hollywood Walk of Fame star at Grauman's Chinese Theatre to be temporarily covered over, disturbing fans who had come to pay their respects. Fans proceeded to gather at a different Michael Jackson star instead.[38]

But, really, all the cautions and qualifications in the world are blasted out of your head by some of the film's astoundingly hilarious ideas and sequences. Bruno and his partner have acrobatic, degradingly inventive sex; Bruno parades his adopted African son before an all-black tabloid talk show audience; Bruno interviews Paula Abdul in an empty house, the two using crouching Mexican gardeners as chairs; Bruno puts the sexytime moves on Congressman Ron Paul in a hotel room; a TV network focus group reacts (appalled, appropriately) to Bruno's daft concept for a new show; Bruno has long, revealing chats with gay deprogrammers in the deep South. One scene after another pushes you into paroxysms; you're almost glad for the bits that feel overly staged or underdeveloped: they give your ribcage a rest.

And yet, for all the pleasure of that laughter, which is undeniable, there's a residue to "Bruno" that can leave you feeling dirty and unsure of yourself. Only the most PC audience could read "Borat" as an attack on Kazakh culture or heritage; most of the jabs were clearly against the xenophobic Americans the character encountered in Cohen's patented mockumentary ambush style.

But Bruno, perhaps because Cohen plays him so brilliantly, vividly personifies some of the most hateful stereotypes of homosexual manners and lifestyles in a way that Cohen, his co-writers and director Larry Charles don't have quite control of. Yes, the homophobic bigotry of a variety of those whom Bruno encounters is exposed nakedly and often humorously; but at the same time the film plainly asks the audience to laugh at Bruno's sexual tastes and flamboyant air. You could be amused by or with Ali G or Borat and be on firm footing, morally speaking; Bruno, whether by its creators' choices or lapses, affords you no such steady ground.

Maybe it's not fair to talk about a raucous, profoundly R-rated comedy in such ways. It's a summertime movie, after all, and in comic terms it succeeds, more or less, if not quite as unequivocally as "Borat." Thing is, though, were these same stereotypes and exaggerations of gay men presented in, say, a Judd Apatow film, an angry response would be entirely appropriate. Cohen is trying to do moral floor exercises on the edge of a knife, and to acknowledge that he provokes gutbusting laughs while he does it isn't to say that he succeeds in unmasking hypocrisy or prejudice or hate in the ways that, presumably, he hopes to.

So know this going into "Bruno," then: you will laugh; you will see things you would have hoped never to see if you'd had the misfortune to imagine them; you will feel chagrin for innocent bystanders and celebrities who ought to have knownbetter; you will be made to feel deeply uncomfortable. But, I fear, you won't be enlightened, despite the best of intentions of the creators. And, I fear even more, if you enter the film with a closed mind, you might have it welded permanently shut. Which doesn't, in sum, seem to be the point of comedy or satire.

Austria’s sexiest export since the crotchless lederhosen has been let loose on the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is your chance to get up close and very personal with Sacha Baron Cohen’s most outrageous comedy creation, Brüno.

The Brüno iPhone app features exclusive ringtones, alarm clock alerts, games and soundboards showcasing the flamboyant fashionista’s favorite catchphrases.

Brüno enjoys nothing better than being manhandled by complete strangers, so let your fingers do the talking with the exclusive ‘Touch Brüno’ feature. Hit his sweet spot and he’ll reward you with some Austrian dirty talk.

Who wouldn’t want the chance to become the great man himself? Upload a picture of your face to Brüno-ize yourself.

Marvel at Brüno’s ‘unterhosen’ by shaking your phone to see his fabulous range of thongs and underwear.

Get wet with the Austrian zeitgeistmeister in the ‘Brünoquarium’.

Don’t miss out on this chance to be seen with this season’s most fabulous iPhone app.

WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN…
…CANNOT BE UNSEEN

Better than Borat, 1 July 2009

I got free tickets to an exclusive screening of Bruno last night, I went in expecting to find it funny, but the memories of Borat, and the catchphrases that haunted me months after the movie came out still lingered. Yes I loved Borat on first viewing, yes it was shocking, it was original, but it was brilliant. Sadly it became way, way too popular, and sadly the joke wore very thin by the millionth time I had heard many of the lines from the film. When Bruno was first announced I had no interest in the film. The character was good, but in my opinion also very one note and lacking the comedic potential that Borat had. Yet I can safely say after watching it, that it is by far one of the funniest movies in ages, narrowly just above The Hangover I would say. Bruno is a hugely risky comedy, and will offend many people. Yet it doesn't seem as offencive as Borat, and as a result possibly funnier. This isn't to say Bruno is tame, far from it. A scene with a talking penis more than sees to that (also the funniest scene I have seen in many a year). But credit has to go to Sacha Baron Cohen, is really is the modern day Peter Sellers. Like Sellers he has perfect comedic timing, has a vast array of characters to play with, and truly seems to inhabit his roles. At no point in this movie did I question that Bruno didn't exist, thats how brilliantly he plays the role. Sure Bruno may grate to some viewers, but he is actually a decent character. The short run time, while questionably too short (possibly the missing Latoya Jackson interview might have made up for this), makes sure the film never outstays its welcome.

Cohen truly is perfect in the movie, and also a very incredibly brave man. While I question whether some scene weren't actually staged, the man does seem to put himself in very risky situations. An interview with a terrorist being frighteningly realistic, and the crowds reaction at the end basically coming across that he could be murdered at any second. But the key to this type of humour is the public's reactions, and some members react absolutely brilliantly. The most horrifying and shocking for me being an interview with parents who want their children in show business. What they are willing to do is absolutely horrifying. I question Paula Abdul's interview not being staged, but it is funny all the same. Bruno's assistant, Lutz, played by Gustaf Hammarsten, is amusing though not as great as Borat's manager. The pair do have some great scene, especially when they're locked together in a rather sexual way, that is pretty damned funny.

Bruno will either drive you into hysterics, as it did me and everyone in the audience. Or will horrify and shock you, yet as I just said it didn't appear to do so in my audience, in fact unlike Borat (where at least 10 people walked), nobody left Bruno at all. The comedy is brilliant, and while it is shocking you cannot help but laugh. It balances wincing with embarrassment with shock humour to perfection. It's an incredibly funny movie with so many memorable lines (that possibly I may hate in a month because of the movies inevitable popularity), and scenes that are just hilarious. My only gripe with it is the length I guess, which is both a blessing and a curse for the movie. It just seems lacking a bit more, ten/fifteen more minutes would have been perfect in my mines just to make the movie flow that bit better. But when a movie is this funny, how can you really criticise it for not falling into many comedies traps? Just running on far too long, yes 40 Year Old Virgin as much as I love you I am looking at you.

Overall Bruno is a must see of this summer, which so far seems to be lacking in many quality movies. Anyway if you want a short, sharp, shock, but a funny shock, of a movie then Bruno is definitely for you. Just don't go with your parents!

Cast (in credits order)

	Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Brüno
	Gustaf Hammarsten	...	Lutz
	Clifford Bañagale	...	Diesel
	Chibundu Orukwowu	...	O.J.
	Chigozie Orukwowu	...	O.J.
	Josh Meyers	...	Kookus
	Toby Hoguin	...	Mexican Gardener #1
	Robert Huerta	...	Mexican Gardener #2
	Gilbert Rosales	...	Mexican Gardener #3
	Thomas Rosales Jr.	...	Mexican Gardener #4
	Marco Xavier	...	Mexican Gardener #5
	Bono	...	'Dove of Peace'
	Chris Martin	...	'Dove of Peace'
	Elton John	...	'Dove of Peace'
	Slash	...	'Dove of Peace'
	Snoop Dogg	...	'Dove of Peace'
	Sting	...	'Dove of Peace'
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Paula Abdul	...	Herself (uncredited)
	Domiziano Arcangeli	...	Fashion Show Director in Milan (uncredited)
	Richard Bey	...	Himself (uncredited)
	Harrison Ford	...	Himself (uncredited)
	John Grant Gordon	...	German Male Model (uncredited)
	Ron Paul	...	Himself (uncredited)
	Stephen Sepher	...	Photographer (uncredited)
	Alexander von Roon	...	German reporter (uncredited)

Produced by
Jason Alper	....	associate producer
Sacha Baron Cohen	....	producer
Jonah Hill	....	associate producer
Anthony Hines	....	executive producer
Monica Levinson	....	producer
Dan Mazer	....	producer
Jon Poll	....	co-producer
Jay Roach	....	producer
Jeff Schaffer	....	associate producer
Todd Schulman	....	co-producer
Dale Stern	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Erran Baron Cohen

Cinematography by
Anthony Hardwick
Wolfgang Held

Film Editing by
Scott M. Davids
James Thomas

Production Design by
Dan Butts
Denise Hudson
David Maturana		(as David Saenz de Maturana)

Art Direction by
Kate Bunch
Lisa Marinaccio

Set Decoration by
Ute Bergk
Britt Woods

Costume Design by
Jason Alper

Makeup Department
Helen Kalognomos	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Jamie D. Boscardin	....	production supervisor
Sonja B. Zimmer	....	production manager germany

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Miguel Lombardi	....	first assistant director: Italy
Eliot Mathews	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Chris Buchinsky	....	storyboard artist
Skip Crank	....	property master: Washington DC/Los Angeles
Oliver Dear	....	conceptual artist
Marjorie Eber	....	art department coordinator
J. Michael Glynn	....	property master
Randy Hearne	....	carpenter
Anson Jew	....	concept art
Douglas R. Johnson	....	set painter
John Paul 'J.P.' Jones	....	property master
Bianca Makarewicz	....	art department runner
Frank Noack	....	set dresser
Eric Whitney	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Sarah Bourgeois	....	assistant sound editor
Jeremy Brill	....	boom operator
Bill Burns	....	first assistant sound editor
Jenna Dalla Riva	....	foley recording assistant
Susan Dudeck	....	dialogue editor
Alison Fisher	....	supervising dialogue & adr editor
Alan Freedman	....	adr mixer
Brooke Graeff	....	foley assistant
Scott Harber	....	production sound mixer
Jonas Jansson	....	additional adr recordist
Scott A. Jennings	....	sound effects editor
Andy Malcolm	....	foley artist
Michael O'Farrell	....	supervising sound editor
Joel Shryack	....	dialogue editor
Don White	....	foley recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Chris Chappell	....	compositor
Jalal Jemison	....	compositor

Stunts
Eddie Braun	....	stunts
Alex Daniels	....	stunt coordinator
Shawn Lane	....	stunt performer
Hugh Aodh O'Brien	....	utility stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Alba	....	additional camera operator
Thierry Bohnke	....	first assistant camera (segment)
Jimmy Bourcier	....	assistant camera: France Unit
Marc Christie	....	key grip
M. Autumn Eakin	....	assistant camera: additional
Martin Frank	....	gaffer: germany
Luke Geissbuhler	....	additional photography
Felice Guzzi	....	gaffer
Nate Havens	....	additional camera operator
John Johns	....	video controller
Matt Mindlin	....	additional cinematographer
Jon Myers	....	additional camera operator
Jon Myers	....	jimmy jib operator
John C. Nadeau	....	unit gaffer
Marcus Pohlus	....	Steadicam operator: Berlin unit
Mark Schwartzbard	....	camera operator
Michael Penn Smith	....	jib operator
Kevin Tiesiera	....	lighting technician: Los Angeles

Casting Department
Dennis Overeem	....	casting assistant
Johanna Ragwitz	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lindsey Kear	....	wardrobe production assistant
Dayna Pink	....	fashion consultant
Jennifer Starzyk	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Brandon Balin	....	assistant editor
Bryan Cantrall	....	on-line editor
Marisa Clayton	....	digital intermediate producer: Modern VideoFilm
Rachelle Dang	....	assistant editor (2009)
Joe Finley	....	digital film colorist

Music Department
Christopher Guardino	....	score conducted and orchestrated by
Richard Henderson	....	music editor
Richard Henderson	....	music supervisor
Stephanie Lowry	....	music editor
Peter Rotter	....	music contractor
Dennis S. Sands	....	music scoring mixer
Steven L. Smith	....	music preparation

Transportation Department
Bruce Callahan	....	transportation
David Christenson	....	transportation
Royale Edward	....	driver
Kirk Huston	....	transportation coordinator
Chris Stephens	....	transportation coordinator
Olivier Suffert	....	production driver: Paris unit

Other crew
Jesse J. Adams	....	production assistant
Robyn Adams	....	writers' assistant
Jeremy Alter	....	location manager: Los Angeles
Kieran Baker	....	field coordinator
Chelsea Barnard	....	field coordinator
Allison Boon	....	field coordinator
Jordi Caballero	....	choreographer
Cara Casey	....	field coordinator
Pierre Cheminat	....	assistant accountant
Michael Cleaver	....	production and claims counsel
Adam Cuthbert	....	production assistant
Richard Davison	....	accounting clerk
Steven Davis	....	field coordinator
Kathleen Egan	....	field supervisor
Stephen Feder	....	field coordinator
Natalia Garcia	....	field coordinator
Christopher Godfrey	....	writing assistant
Josh Greenbarg	....	production assistant
Lon Haber	....	dialect/language coach
Mitch Harbeson	....	location manager
John Kiriakou	....	security consultant
Richard Klein	....	security consultant
Kea Könneker	....	key production assistant
Alexandra Lambrinidis	....	production field supervisor
Keri Lederman	....	production supervisor: additional photography
Ryan Leiderman	....	field coordinator
Geri Logan	....	field coordinator
Don Orlando	....	production accountant
John Sanchez	....	production coordinator
Russell Smith	....	production and claims counsel
Greg Stephenson	....	teleprompter operator
Scott Trimble	....	location scout: reshoots
Clare Tucker	....	field coordinator
Mathew A. Villalobos	....	key assistant location manager
Tracy Wilcoxen	....	audience coordinator
Lavinia Zetina	....	key first assistant accountant

Thanks
Roger Drew	....	thanks
Will Smith	....	thanks

how 911 was done... hologrammes

2009-07-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

Peter Power, you are a pillock.

I sympathise with you wanting to save your skin, but you know what an unlikely coincidence it was.

You know what happened to the financial comptrollers in the cellar of the pentagon! The electronics technicians that did the encrypted remote-control command of the secret high-tech equipment in the NAVY (ONI) part of the Pentagon... that was blown up to eliminate witnesses and scare-off future whistleblowers.

http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2009/02/cabal-rules-planet-read-on.html

They 911-perpetrators used WAY COOL illusions.. TV-inserts, hologrammes (so they wouldn't get caught in their lifetimes).

Hear me out. THERE IS SIMPLE LOGIC AHEAD.

Of course you don't believe me. You rather believe 20year-old amateurs prefectly destroyed the WTC complex and Pentagon.

The entire US military was clueless even though they REHEARSED IT ON THE SAME DAY

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/07/911-radar-data-us-fascism.html

And some hilly-billy folk-heroes *Let's roll* prevented the foruth plane from being flown into the Whitehouse.
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/09/fbi-merely-assumed-wreckage-to-be.html

Hologrammes, yes!
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/01/luc-courchesne-911-ua-175-hologram.html

here is the logic:

a) eyewitnesses saw WEIRD plane, cameras filmes WEIRD planes!
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/07/amputee-wings-ua175-impact-videos.html
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2007/08/tv-911-airplane-fabrication.html

b) TV pictures were faked
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/08/nose-out.html
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2007/12/videos-dealing-with-truth-behind.html

c) No airplane part was ever positively identified! Planted!
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/11/ua175-wtc-hologramme-ghostplane.html
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2007/09/wtc-aircraft-debris.html

RESULT: a) + b) + c) = flying holograms!

Why do you think they needed crystal clear, dry skies?

more:
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/10/u2r2h-holo-tvf-missile-flyby-projector.html
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/08/ts-ts-carmen-taylor-ua175-photo-and.html
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/10/911-hologram-theory.html

SPECULATION:

"free elctron lasers"? anyway, sufficiently advanced technology to qualify as MAGIC was used to blow up the WTC towers, WTC7 and the Pentagon. Secret super-high-technology is the perfect illusion as it can never be divulged.)

The enabling technology (holographic projections of airplanes in mid-air) may have been of Soviet origin and 800 people onboard the Estonia had to die because the CIA was violating swedish neutrality while getting the secret technology.

The weather had to be perfect (HAARP? Hurraine ERIN)

http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/09/judy-wood-and-hurricaine-of-sept-11th.html

Was this hurricaine steered? Was it on standby to cover up a possible uncovering of TV fakery in New York? Was the 9/11 masterplan a much much larger plan that included thermo-nuclear war (The richest man on earth BUFFETT sought shelter at nuclear bomber command headquarters bunkers OFFUTT ... check links here and here).

What alternative reality exists in the US military?

http://www.drjudywood.com/articles/erin/

http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/08/nose-out.html

Screen captures from the Michael Hezarkhani "Ghostplane" video. Yellow arrow indicates the "wingtip" and where it struck the tower.

Capture A:

Capture B:

Capture C:

Capture D:

Capture E:

Capture F:

Capture G:

Why is the fragile wingtip, which contains no fuel, producing an explosion at all?

The round smoke puff that appears in capture F just to the left of the arrowhead is particularly odd.

If this was deflected debris, we should see it occurring in Capture C. Instead we see a large puff of explosion where the wingtip goes in-- a puff that merges with the larger center explosion.

There's ALSO an explosion that occurs much lower down from the wing--away from EVERYTHING!

MORE INFO:
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/01/luc-courchesne-911-ua-175-hologram.html

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/10/911-hologram-theory.html

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/10/u2r2h-holo-tvf-missile-flyby-projector.html

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/01/michael-hezarkhani-carment-taylor-wtc.html

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/01/michael-hezarkhani-video-battery-park.html

http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2008/01/notorious-carmen-taylor-photographs-of.html

WATCH THE VIDEO!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Hezarkhani+&search_type=&aq=f

ANONYMOUS WIRELESS USER was very quick to censor!!
03:17, 15 November 2008 166.197.205.84 (Talk) (23,576 bytes) (Undid revision 251896480 by MBK004 (talk) remove poorly sourced) (undo)
WOW.. MK004 REINSTATED my "will be deleted anyway" edit:
03:12, 15 November 2008 MBK004 (Talk | contribs) m (24,718 bytes) (Reverted edits by 166.197.97.198 (talk) to last version by U2r2h) (undo)

My wikipedia edit was removed BY AN ANONYMOUS WIRELESS USER!
03:11, 15 November 2008 166.197.97.198 (Talk) (23,576 bytes) (Undid revision 251882949 by U2r2h (talk)) (undo)
01:29, 15 November 2008 U2r2h (Talk | contribs) (24,718 bytes) (?Crash: Michael Hezarkhani (please google -- u2r2h Michael Hezarkhani -- for more on the unspeakable)
========================
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA227788

Bibliography of Soviet Laser Developments, March-April 1988.

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... Ultrashort pulse generation, Free electron lasers, Laser theory, ... COMPUTERS, EXCITATION, FREE ELECTRON LASERS, GAS LASERS, HOLOGRAPHY, LASER BEAMS, ...
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von DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WASHINGTON DC DIRECTORATE FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECH NICAL INTELLIGENCE - 1990

DIA!!

Accession Number : ADA227788

Title : Bibliography of Soviet Laser Developments, March-April 1988.

Corporate Author : DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WASHINGTON DC DIRECTORATE FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECH NICAL INTELLIGENCE

Report Date : MAR 1990

Pagination or Media Count : 110

Abstract : This is the Soviet Laser Bibliography for March-April 1988. The coverage includes basic research on solid state, liquid, gas, and chemical lasers; components; nonlinear; optics; spectroscopy of laser materials; ultrashort pulse generation; theoretical aspects of advanced lasers; and general laser theory. Laser applications are listed under biological effects; communications systems; beam propagation; adaptive optics; computer technology; holography, laser-induced chemical reactions; measurement of laser parameters; laser measurement applications; laser-excited optical effects; laser spectroscopy; beam-target interaction; and plasma generation and diagnostics. Keywords: Solid state lasers, Liquid lasers, Gas lasers, Chemical lasers, Laser components, Nonlinear optics, Spectroscopy of laser materials, Ultrashort pulse generation, Free electron lasers, Laser theory, Laser biological effects, Laser communications, Laser beam propagation, Adaptive optics, Laser computer technology, Holography, Laser chemical effects, Laser parameters, Laser measurement applications, Laser excited optical effects, Laser Spectroscopy, Laser beam target interaction, Laser plasma. (jhd)

Descriptors : *LASER APPLICATIONS, ADAPTIVE OPTICS, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHEMICAL LASERS, CHEMICAL REACTIONS, COMMUNICATION AND RADIO SYSTEMS, COMPUTERS, EXCITATION, FREE ELECTRON LASERS, GAS LASERS, HOLOGRAPHY, LASER BEAMS, LASER COMMUNICATIONS, LASER COMPONENTS, LASER MATERIALS, LASER TARGET INTERACTIONS, LASERS, LIGHT TRANSMISSION, LIQUID LASERS, MEASUREMENT, NONLINEAR OPTICS, OPTICAL PROPERTIES, OPTICS, PARAMETERS, PLASMA GENERATORS, PLASMAS(PHYSICS), PULSE GENERATORS, RADIATION DAMAGE, FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY, SHORT PULSES, SOLID STATE LASERS, SPECTROSCOPY, THEORY, USSR, WAVE PROPAGATION.

Subject Categories : LASERS AND MASERS

Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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advertising = obstacle to the survival of the species

2009-07-02T02:21:00.000-07:00

Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse

In this article I wish to make a simple claim: 20th century advertising is the most powerful and sustained system of propaganda in human history and its cumulative cultural effects, unless quickly checked, will be responsible for destroying the world as we know it. As it achieves this it will be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of non-western peoples and will prevent the peoples of the world from achieving true happiness. Simply stated, our survival as a species is dependent upon minimizing the threat from advertising and the commercial culture that has spawned it. I am stating my claims boldly at the outset so there can be no doubt as to what is at stake in our debates about the media and culture as we enter the new millenium.

Colonizing Culture:

Karl Marx, the pre-eminent analyst of 19th century industrial capitalism, wrote in 1867, in the very opening lines of Capital that: "The wealth of societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails appears as an 'immense collection of commodities'". (Marx 1976, p.125) In seeking to initially distinguish his object of analysis from preceding societies, Marx referred to the way the society showed itself on a surface level and highlighted a quantitative dimension -- the number of objects that humans interacted with in everyday life.

Indeed, no other society in history has been able to match the immense productive output of industrial capitalism. This feature colors the way in which the society presents itself -- the way it appears. Objects are everywhere in capitalism. In this sense, capitalism is truly a revolutionary society, dramatically altering the very landscape of social life, in a way no other form of social organization had been able to achieve in such a short period of time. (In The Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels would coin the famous phrase "all that is solid melts into air" to highlight capitalism's unique dynamism.) It is this that strikes Marx as distinctive as he observes 19th century London. The starting point of his own critique therefore is not what he believes is the dominating agent of the society, capital, nor is it what he believes creates the value and wealth, labor -- instead it is the commodity. From this surface appearance Marx then proceeds to peel away the outer skin of the society and to penetrate to the underlying essential structure that lies in the "hidden abode" of production.

It is not enough of course to only produce the "immense collection of commodities" they must also be sold, so that further investment in production is feasible. Once produced commodities must go through the circuit of distribution, exchange and consumption, so that profit can be returned to the owners of capital and value can be "realized" again in a money form. If the circuit is not completed the system would collapse into stagnation and depression. Capitalism therefore has to ensure the sale of commodities on pain of death. In that sense the problem of capitalism is not mass production (which has been solved) but is instead the problem of consumption. That is why from the early years of this century it is more accurate to use the label "the consumer culture" to describe the western industrial market societies.

So central is consumption to its survival and growth that at the end of the 19th century industrial capitalism invented a unique new institution the advertising industry to ensure that the "immense accumulation of commodities" are converted back into a money form. The function of this new industry would be to recruit the best creative talent of the society and to create a culture in which desire and identity would be fused with commodities to make the dead world of things come alive with human and social possibilities (what Marx would prophetically call the "fetishism of commodities"). And indeed there has never been a propaganda effort to match the effort of advertising in the 20th century. More thought, effort, creativity, time, and attention to detail has gone into the selling of the immense collection of commodities that any other campaign in human history to change public consciousness. One indication of this is simple the amount of money that has been exponentially expended on this effort. Today, in the United States alone, over $175 billion a year is spent to sell us things. This concentration of effort is unprecedented.

It should not be surprising that something this central and with so much being expended on it should become an important presence in social life. Indeed, commercial interests intent on maximizing the consumption of the immense collection of commodities have colonized more and more of the spaces of our culture. For instance, almost the entire media system (television and print) has been developed as a delivery system for marketers its prime function is to produce audiences for sale to advertisers. Both the advertisements it carries, as well as the editorial matter that acts as a support for it, celebrate the consumer society. The movie system, at one time outside the direct influence of the broader marketing system, is now fully integrated into it through the strategies of licensing, tie-ins and product placements. The prime function of many Hollywood films today is to aid in the selling of the immense collection of commodities. As public funds are drained from the non-commercial cultural sector, art galleries, museums and symphonies bid for corporate sponsorship. Even those institutions thought to be outside of the market are being sucked in. High schools now sell the sides of their buses, the spaces of their hallways and the classroom time of their students to hawkers of candy bars, soft drinks and jeans. In New York City, sponsors are being sought for public playgrounds. In the contemporary world everything is sponsored by someone. The latest plans of Space Marketing Inc. call for rockets to deliver mile-wide mylar billboards to compete with the sun and the moon for the attention of the earth's population.

With advertising messages on everything from fruit on supermarket shelves, to urinals, and to literally the space beneath our feet (Bamboo lingerie conducted a spray-paint pavement campaign in Manhattan telling consumers that "from here it looks likes you could use some new underwear"), it should not be surprising that many commentators now identify the realm of culture as simply an adjunct to the system of production and consumption.

Indeed so overwhelming has the commercial colonization of our culture become that it has created its own problems for marketers who now worry about how to ensure that their individual message stands out from the "clutter" and the "noise" of this busy environment. In that sense the main competition for marketers is not simply other brands in their product type, but all the other advertisers who are competing for the attention of an increasingly cynical audience which is doing all it can to avoid ads. In a strange paradox, as advertising takes over more and more space in the culture the job of the individual advertisers becomes much more difficult. Therefore even greater care and resources are poured into the creation of commercial messages --- much greater care than the surrounding editorial matter designed to capture the attention of the audience. Indeed if we wanted to compare national television commercials to something equivalent, it would the biggest budget movie blockbusters. Second by second, it costs more to produce the average network ad than a movie like Jurassic Park.

The twin results of these developments are that advertising is everywhere and huge amounts of money and creativity are expended upon them.

If Marx were writing today I believe that not only would he be struck by the presence of even more objects, but also by the ever-present "discourse through and about objects" that permeates the spaces of our public and private domains. (see Leiss et al 1990 p. 1) This commercial discourse is the ground on which we live, the space in which we learn to think, the lens through which we come to understand the world that surrounds us. In seeking to understand where we are headed as a society, an adequate analysis of this commercial environment is essential.

Seeking this understanding will involve clarifying what we mean by the power and effectiveness of ads, and of being able to pose the right question. For too long debate has been concentrated around the issue of whether ad campaigns create demand for a particular product. If you are Pepsi Cola, or Ford, or Anheuser Busch, then it may be the right question for your interests. But, if you are interested in the social power of advertising the impact of advertising on society then that is the wrong question.

The right question would ask about the cultural role of advertising, not its marketing role. Culture is the place and space where a society tells stories about itself, where values are articulated and expressed, where notions of good and evil, of morality and immorality, are defined. In our culture it is the stories of advertising that dominate the spaces that mediate this function. If human beings are essentially a storytelling species, then to study advertising is to examine the central storytelling mechanism of our society. The correct question to ask from this perspective, is not whether particular ads sell the products they are hawking, but what are the consistent stories that advertising spins as a whole about what is important in the world, about how to behave, about what is good and bad. Indeed, it is to ask what values does advertising consistently push.

Happiness

Every society has to tell a story about happiness, about how individuals can satisfy themselves and feel both subjectively and objectively good. The cultural system of advertising gives a very specific answer to that question for our society. The way to happiness and satisfaction is through the consumption of objects through the marketplace. Commodities will make us happy. (Leiss 1976 p. 4) In one very important, sense that is the consistent and explicit message of every single message within the system of market communication.

Neither the fact of advertising's colonization of the horizons of imagination or the pushing of a story about the centrality of goods to human satisfaction should surprise us. The immense collection of goods have to be consumed (and even more goods produced) and the story that is used to enure this function is to equate goods with happiness. Insiders to the system have recognized this obvious fact for many years. Retail analyst Victor Liebow said, just after the second world war

Our enormously productive economy...demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and the selling of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction in commodities...We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate. (in Durning 1991 p. 153)

So economic growth is justified not simply on the basis that it will provide employment (after all a host of alternative non-productive activities could also provide that) but because it will give us access to more things that will make us happy. This rationale for the existing system of ever-increasing production is told by advertising in the most compelling form possible. In fact it is this story, that human satisfaction is intimately connected to the provisions of the market, to economic growth, that is the major motivating force for social change as we start the 21st century.

The social upheavals of eastern Europe were pushed by this vision. As Gloria Steinhem described the East German transformation: "First we have a revolution then we go shopping." (in Ehrenreich 1990 p.46) The attractions of this vision in the Third World are not difficult to discern. When your reality is empty stomachs and empty shelves, no wonder the marketplace appears as the panacea for your problems. When your reality is hunger and despair it should not be surprising that the seductive images of desire and abundance emanating from the advertising system should be so influential in thinking about social and economic policy. Indeed not only happiness but political freedom itself is made possible by access to the immense collection of commodities. These are very powerful stories that equate happiness and freedom with consumption and advertising is the main propaganda arm of this view.

The question that we need to pose at this stage (that is almost never asked) is, "Is it true?." Does happiness come from material things? Do we get happier as a society as we get richer, as our standard of living increases, as we have more access to the immense collection of objects? Obviously these are complex issues, but the general answer to these questions is "no." (see Leiss et al 1990 Chapter 10 for a fuller discussion of these issues.)

In a series of surveys conducted in the United States starting in 1945 (labeled "the happiness surveys") researchers sought to examine the link between material wealth and subjective happiness, and concluded that, when examined both cross-culturally as well as historically in one society, there is a very weak correlation. Why should this be so?

When we examine this process more closely the conclusions appear to be less surprising than our intuitive perspective might suggest. In another series of surveys (the "quality of life surveys") people were asked about the kinds of things that are important to them about what would constitute a good quality of life. The findings of this line of research indicate that if the elements of satisfaction were divided to be up into social values (love, family, friends) and material values (economic security and success) the former outranks the latter in terms of importance. What people say they really want out of life is: autonomy and control of life; good self-esteem; warm family relationships; tension-free leisure time; close and intimate friends; as well as romance and love. This is not to say that material values are not important. They form a necessary component of a good quality of life. But above a certain level of poverty and comfort, material things stop giving us the kind of satisfaction that the magical world of advertising insists they can deliver.

These conclusion point to one of the great ironies of the market system. The market is good at providing those things that can be bought and sold and it pushed us via advertising in that direction. But the real sources of happiness social relationships are outside the capability of the marketplace to provide. The marketplace cannot provide love, it cannot provide real friendships, it cannot provide sociability. It can provide other material things and services but they are not what makes us happy.

The advertising industry has known this since at least the 1920s and in fact have stopped trying to sell us things based on their material qualities alone. If we examine the advertising of the end of the 19th and first years of the 20th century, we would see that advertising talked a lot about the properties of commodities what they did, how well they did it, etc.. But starting in the 1920s advertising shifts to talking about the relationship of objects to the social life of people. It starts to connect commodities (the things they have to sell) with the powerful images of a deeply desired social life that people say they want.

No wonder then that advertising is so attractive to us, so powerful, so seductive. What it offers us are images of the real sources of human happiness family life, romance and love, sexuality and pleasure, friendship and sociability, leisure and relaxation, independence and control of life. That is why advertising is so powerful, that is what is real about it. The cruel illusion of advertising however is in the way that it links those qualities to a place that by definition cannot provide it the market and the immense collection of commodities. The falsity of advertising is not in the appeals it makes (which are very real) but in the answers it provides. We want love and friendship and sexuality and advertising points the way to it through objects.

To reject or criticize advertising as false and manipulative misses the point. Ad executive Jerry Goodis puts it this way: "Advertising doesn't mirror how people are acting but how they are dreaming." (in Nelson 1983) It taps into our real emotions and repackages them back to us connected to the world of things. What advertising really reflects in that sense is the dreamlife of the culture. Even saying this however simplifies a deeper process because advertisers do more than mirror our dreamlife they help to create it. They translate our desires (for love, for family, for friendship, for adventure, for sex) into our dreams. Advertising is like a fantasy factory, taking our desire for human social contact and reconceiving it, reconceptualizing it, connecting it with the world of commodities and then translating into a form that can be communicated.

The great irony is that as advertising does this it draws us further away from what really has the capacity to satisfy us (meaningful human contact and relationships) to what does not (material things). In that sense advertising reduces our capacity to become happy by pushing us, cajoling us, to carry on in the direction of things. If we really wanted to create a world that reflected our desires then the consumer culture would not be it. It would look very different a society that stressed and built the institutions that would foster social relationships, rather than endless material accumulation.

Advertising's role in channeling us in these fruitless directions is profound. In one sense, its function is analagous to the drug pusher on the street corner. As we try and break our addiction to things it is there, constantly offering us another "hit." By persistently pushing the idea of the good life being connected to products, and by colonizing every nook and cranny of the culture where alternative ideas could be raised, advertising is an important part of the creation of what Tibor Scitovsky (1976) calls "the joyless economy." The great political challenge that emerges from this analysis is how to connect our real desires to a truly human world, rather than the dead world of the "immense collection of commodities."

"There is no such thing as 'society'"

A culture dominated by commercial messages that tells individuals that the way to happiness is through consuming objects bought in the marketplace gives a very particular answer to the question of "what is society?" what is it that binds us together in some kind of collective way, what concerns or interests do we share? In fact, Margaret Thatcher, the former conservative British Prime Minister, gave the most succinct answer to this question from the viewpoint of the market. In perhaps her most (in)famous quote she announced: "There is no such thing as 'society'. There are just individuals and their families." According to Mrs. Thatcher, there is nothing solid we can call society no group values, no collective interests society is just a bunch of individuals acting on their own.

Indeed this is precisely how advertising talks to us. It addresses us not as members of society talking about collective issues, but as individuals. It talks about our individual needs and desires. It does not talk about those things we have to negotiate collectively, such as poverty, healthcare, housing and the homeless, the environment, etc..
The market appeals to the worst in us (greed, selfishness) and discourages what is the best about us (compassion, caring, and generosity).

Again this should not surprise us. In those societies where the marketplace dominates then what will be stressed is what the marketplace can deliver -- and advertising is the main voice of the marketplace -- so discussions of collective issues are pushed to the margins of the culture. They are not there in the center of the main system of communication that exists in the society. It is no accident that politically the market vision associated with neo-conservatives has come to dominate at exactly that time when advertising has been pushing the same values into every available space in the culture. The widespread disillusionment with "government" (and hence with thinking about issues in a collective manner) has found extremely fertile ground in the fields of commercial culture.

Unfortunately, we are now in a situation, both globally and domestically, where solutions to pressing nuclear and environmental problems will have to take a collective form. The marketplace cannot deal with the problems that face us at the turn of the millenium. For example it cannot deal with the threat of nuclear extermination that is still with us in the post-Cold War age. It cannot deal with global warming, the erosion of the ozone layer, or the depletion of our non-renewable resources. The effects of the way we do "business" are no longer localized, they are now global, and we will have to have international and collective ways of dealing with them. Individual action will not be enough. As the environmentalist slogan puts it "we all live downstream now."

Domestically, how do we find a way to tackle issues such as the nightmares of our inner cities, the ravages of poverty, the neglect of healthcare for the most vulnerable section of the population? How can we find a way to talk realistically and passionately of such problems within a culture where the central message is "don't worry, be happy." As Barbara Ehrenreich says:

Television commercials offer solutions to hundreds of problems we didn't even know we had -- from 'morning mouth' to shampoo build-up -- but nowhere in the consumer culture do we find anyone offering us such mundane necessities as affordable health insurance, childcare, housing, or higher education. The flip side of the consumer spectacle... is the starved and impoverished public sector. We have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but no way to feed and educate the one- fifth of American children who are growing up in poverty. We have dozens of varieties of breakfast cereal, and no help for the hungry. (Ehrenreich 1990 p.47)

In that sense, advertising systematically relegates discussion of key societal issues to the peripheries of the culture and talks in powerful ways instead of individual desire, fantasy, pleasure and comfort.

Partly this is because of advertising's monopolization of cultural life. There is no space left for different types of discussion, no space at the center of the society where alternative values could be expressed. But it is also connected to the failure of those who care about collective issues to create alternative visions that can compete in any way with the commercial vision. The major alternatives offered to date have been a gray and dismal stateism. This occurred not only in the western societies but also in the former so called "socialist" societies of eastern Europe. These repressive societies never found a way to connect to people in any kind of pleasurable way, relegating issues of pleasure and individual expression to the non-essential and distracting aspects of social life. This indeed was the core of the failure of Communism in Eastern Europe. As Ehrenreich reminds us, not only was it unable to deliver the material goods, but it was unable to create a fully human "ideological retort to the powerful seductive messages of the capitalist consumer culture." (Ehrenreich 1990 p.47) The problems are no less severe domestically.

Everything enticing and appealing is located in the (thoroughly private) consumer spectacle. In contrast, the public sector looms as a realm devoid of erotic promise -- the home of the IRS, the DMV, and other irritating, intrusive bureaucracies. Thus, though everyone wants national health insurance, and parental leave, few are moved to wage political struggles for them. 'Necessity' is not enough; we may have to find a way to glamorize the possibility of an activist public sector, and to glamorize the possibility of public activism. (Ehrenreich 1990 p.47)

The imperative task for those who want to stress a different set of values is to make the struggle for social change fun and sexy. By that I do not mean that we have to use images of sexuality, but that we have to find a way of thinking about the struggle against poverty, against homelessness, for healthcare and child-care, to protect the environment, in terms of pleasure and fun and happiness.

To make this glamorization of collective issues possible will require that the
present commercial monopoly of the channels of communication be broken in
favor of a more democratic access where difficult discussion of important and
relevant issues may be possible. While the situation may appear hopeless we should remind ourselves of how important capitalism deems its monopoly of the imagination to be. The campaigns of successive United States government against the Cuban revolution, and the obsession of our national security state with the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua in the 1980s, demonstrates the importance that capitalism places on smashing the alternative model. Even as the United States government continues to support the most vicious, barbarous, brutal and murderous regimes around the world, it takes explicit aim at those governments that have tried to redistribute wealth to the most needy who have been prioritized collective values over the values of selfishness and greed. The monopoly of the vision is vital and capitalism knows it.

The End of the World as We Know It

The consumer vision that is pushed by advertising and which is conquering the world is based fundamentally, as I argued before, on a notion of economic growth. Growth requires resources (both raw materials and energy) and there is a broad consensus among environmental scholars that the earth cannot sustain past levels of expansion based upon resource- intensive modes of economic activity, especially as more and more nations struggle to join the feeding trough.

The environmental crisis is complex and multilayered, cutting across both production and consumption issues. For instance just in terms of resource depletion, we know that we are rapidly exhausting what the earth can offer and that if the present growth and consumption trends continued unchecked, the limits to growth on the planet will be reached sometime within the next century.Industrial production uses up resources and energy at a rate that had never before even been imagined. Since 1950 the world's population has used up more of the earth's resources than all the generations that came before. (Durning 1991 p.157) In 50 years we have matched the use of thousands of years. The west and especially Americans have used the most of these resources so we have a special responsibility for the approaching crisis. In another hundred years we will have exhausted the planet.

But even more than that even, we will have done irreparable damage to the environment on which we depend for everything. As environmental activist Barry Commoner says:

The environment makes up a huge, enormously complex living machine that forms a thin dynamic layer on the earth's surface, and every human activity depends on the integrity and proper functioning of this machine...This machine is our biological capital, the basic apparatus on which our total productivity depends. If we destroy it, our most advanced technology will become useless and any economic and political system that depends on it will flounder. The environmental crisis is a signal of the approaching catastrophe. (Commoner 1971 p.16-17)

The clearest indication of the way in which we produce is having an effect on the eco-sphere of the planet is the depletion of the ozone layer, which has dramatically increased the amount of ultraviolet radiation that is damaging or lethal to many life forms on the planet. In 1985 scientists discovered the existence of a huge hole in the ozone layer over the South Pole that is the size of the United States illustrating how the activities of humans are changing the very make-up of the earth. In his book The End of Nature Bill McKibben reminds us that "we have done this ourselves.... by driving our cars, building our factories, cutting down our forests, turning on air conditioners." (1989 p.45) He writes that the history of the world is full of the most incredible events that changed the way we lived, but they are all dwarfed by what we have accomplished in the last 50 years.

Man's efforts, even at their mightiest, were tiny compared with the size of the planet -- the Roman Empire meant nothing to the Artic or the Amazon. But now, the way of life of one part of the world in one half-century is altering every inch and every hour of the globe. (1989 p.46)

The situation is so bad that the scientific community is desperately trying to get the attention of the rest of us to wake up to the danger. The Union of Concerned Scientists (representing 1700 of the world's leading scientists, including a majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences) recently issued this appeal:

Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring.

It is important to avoid the prediction of immediate catastrophe. We have already done a lot of damage but the real environmental crisis will not hit until some time in the middle of the next century. However to avoid that catastrophe we have to take action now. We have to put in place the steps that will save us in 70 years time.

The metaphor that best describes the task before us is of an oil tanker heading for a crash on the shore. Because of its momentum and size, to avoid crashing the oil tanker has to start turning well before it reaches the coast, anticipating it own momentum. If it starts turning too late it will smash into the coast. That is where the consumer society is right now. We have to make fundamental changes in the way we organize ourselves, in what we stress in our economy, if want to avoid the catastrophe in 70 years time. We have to take action now.

In that sense the present generation has a unique responsibility in human history. It is literally up to us to save the world, to make the changes we need to make. If we do not, we will be in barbarism and savagery towards each other in 70 years time. We have to make short-term sacifices. We have to give up our our non-essential appliances. We especially have to rethink our relationship to the car. We have to make real changes not just recycling but fundamental changes in how we live and produce. And we cannot do this individually, we have to do it collectively. We have to find the political will somehow to do this and we may even be dead when its real effects will be felt. The vital issue is "how do we identify with that generation in the next century?" As the political philosopher Robert Heilbroner says:

"A crucial problem for the world of the future will be a concern for generations to come. Where will such concern arise?...Contemporary industrial man, his appetite for the present whetted by the values of a high-consumption society and his attitude toward the future influenced by the prevailing canons of self- concern, has but a limited motivation to form such bonds. There are many who would sacrifice much for their children; fewer would do so for their grandchildren. (Heilbroner 1980 p. 134-5)

Forming such bonds will be made even more difficult within our current context that stresses individual (not social) needs and the immediate situation (not the long-term). The advertising system will form the ground on which we think about the future of the human race, and there is nothing there that should give us any hope for the development of such a perspective. The time-frame of advertising is very short-term. It does not encourage us to think beyond the immediacy of present sensual experience. Indeed it may well be the case that as the advertising environment gets more and more crowded, with more and more of what advertisers label as "noise" threatening to drown out individual messages, the appeal will be made to levels of experience that cut through clutter, appealing immediately and deeply to very emotional states. Striking emotional imagery that grabs the "gut" instantly leaves no room for thinking about anything. Sexual imagery, especially in the age of AIDS where sex is being connected to death, will need to become even more powerful and immediate, to overcome any possible negative associations indeed to remove us from the world of connotation and meaning construed cognitively. The value of a collective social future is one that does not, and will not, find expression within our commercially dominated culture. Indeed the prevailing values provide no incentive to develop bonds with future generations and there is a real sense of nihilism and despair about the future, and a closing of ranks against the outside.

Imagining a Different Future

Over a 100 years ago, Marx observed that there were two directions that capitalism could take: towards a democratic "socialism" or towards a brutal "barbarism". Both long-term and recent evidence would seem to indicate that the latter is where we are headed, unless alternative values quickly come to the fore.

Many people thought that the environmental crisis would be the linchpin for the lessening of international tensions as we recognized our interdependence and our collective security and future. But as the Persian Gulf War made clear, the New World Order will be based upon a struggle for scarce resources. Before the propaganda rationale shifted to the "struggle for freedom and democracy," George Bush reminded the American people that the troops were being dispatched to the Gulf to protect the resources that make possible "our way of life". An automobile culture and commodity-based culture such as ours is reliant upon sources of cheap oil. And if the cost of that is 100,000 dead Iraquis, well so be it. In such a scenario the peoples of the Third World will be seen as enemies who are making unreasonable claims on "our" resources. The future and the Third World can wait. Our commercial dominated cultural discourse reminds us powerfully everyday, we need ours and we need it now. In that sense the Gulf War is a preview of what is to come. As the world runs out of resources, the most powerful military sources will use that might to ensure access.

The destructive aspects of capitalism (its short-term nature, its denial of collective values, its stress on the material life), are starting to be recognized by some people who have made their fortunes through the market. The billionaire turned philanthropist George Soros (1997) talks about what he calls "the capitalist threat" and culturally speaking, advertising is the main voice of that threat. To the extent that it pushes us towards material things for satisfaction and away from the construction of social relationships, it pushes us down the road to increased economic production that is driving the coming environmental catastrophe. To the extent that it talks about our individual and private needs, it pushes discussion about collective issues to the margins. To the extent that it talks about the present only, it makes thinking about the future difficult. To the extent that it does all these things, then advertising becomes one of the major obstacles to our survival as a species.

Getting out of this situation, coming up with new ways to look at the world, will require enormous work, and one response may just be to enjoy the end of the world one last great fling, the party to end all parties. The alternative response, to change the situation, to work for humane, collective long-term values, will require an effort of the most immense kind.

And there is evidence to be hopeful about the results of such an attempt. It is important to stress that creating and maintaining the present structure of the consumer culture takes enormous work and effort. The reason consumer ways of looking at the world predominate is because there are billions of dollars being spent on it every single day. The consumer culture is not simply erected and then forgotten. It has to be held in place by the activities of the ad industry, and increasingly the activities of the public relations industry. Capitalism has to try really hard to convince us about the value of the commercial vision. In some senses consumer capitalism is a house of cards, held together in a fragile way by immense effort, and it could just as soon melt away as hold together. It will depend if there are viable alternatives that will motivate people to believe in a different future, if there are other ideas as pleasurable, as powerful, as fun, as passionate with which people can identify.

I am reminded here of the work of Antonio Gramsci who coined the famous phrase, "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will." "Pessimism of the intellect" means recognizing the reality of our present circumstances, analyzing the vast forces arrayed against us, but insisting on the possibilities and the moral desirability of social change that is "the optimism of the will," believing in human values that will be the inspiration for us to struggle for our survival

I do not want to be too Pollyanish about the possibilities of social change. It is not just collective values that need to be struggled for, but collective values that recognize individual rights and individual creativity. There are many repressive collective movements already in existence from our own home-grown Christian fundamentalists to the Islamic zealots of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The task is not easy. It means balancing and integrating different views of the world. As Ehrenreich writes:

Can we envision a society which values not "collectivity" with its dreary implications of conformity but what I can only think to call conviviality, which could, potentially, be built right into the social infrastructure with opportunities, at all levels for rewarding, democratic participation? Can we envision a society that does not dismiss individualism, but truly values individual creative expression including dissidence, debate, nonconformity, artistic experimentation, and in the larger sense, adventure. the project remains what it has always been: to replace the consumer culture with a genuinely human culture. (Ehrenreich 1990 p.47)

The stakes are simply too high for us not to deal with the real and pressing problems that face us a species -- finding a progressive and humane collective solution to the global crisis and ensuring for our children and future generations a world fit for truly human habitation.

Bibliography:

Commoner, Barry (1971) The Closing Circle; nature, man and technology Knopf, New York

Ehrenreich, Barbara (1990) "Laden with Lard" ZETA, July/Aug.

Durning, Alan (1991) "Asking How Much is Enough" in Lester Brown et. al. State of the World 1991 Norton, New York.

Heilbroner Robert (1980) An Inquiry into the Human Prospect: Updated and Reconsidered for the 1980s Norton, New York.

Leiss, William (1976) The Limits to Satisfaction Marion Boyars, London.

Leiss, William, Stephen Kline and Sut Jhally (1990) Social Communication in Advertising (second edition) Routledge, New York.

Marx, Karl (1976) Capital (Vol 1), tr. B. Brewster, Penguin, London.

Nelson, Joyce (1983) "As the Brain Tunes Out, the TV Admen Tune In" Globe and Mail

McKibben, Bill (1989) The End of Nature Randon House, New York.

Scitovsky, Tibor (1976) The Joyless Economy Oxford University Press, New York

Soros, George (1997) "The Capitalist Threat" in The Atlantic Monthly February.

Audio and Video

Watch or listen to lectures and interviews with Sut Jhally

VIDEO LECTURE- The Factory in the Living Room

"The Factory in the Living Room: How Television Exploits Its Audience", Distinguished Faculty Lecture, University of Massachusetts, March 8, 2007

Sut Jhally argues that they way to understand commercial media such as television is to switch from the idea that they are putting things into people (messages and meaning) and instead view them as taking/extracting something from the audience (economic value). Television watching in the home is organized according to the logic of the industrial factory. But in the living-room factory, there are no child labor laws.

Click for Streaming Video

VIDEO INTERVIEW - The Media Education Foundation

"The Media Education Foundation: Origins, Functions and Purposes."

In this interview, Sut Jhally talks about the Media Education Foundation: how it started, how it functions and why media education is important.

Click here for Streaming Video

VIDEO LECTURE- Understanding Globalization

"Understanding Globalization: Unpeeling the Social History of Commodities", Fourth Biennial World Affairs Symposium, Keene State University, November 5, 2005

Using a multi-media presentation, Sut Jhally attempts to make the concept of "globalization" concrete. Using familiar objects (sneakers, coffee, diamonds, carpets) he traces the social history of these products and shows how everyone is implicated in the system of global production, distribution and consumption.

Click here for Streaming Video Part 1
Click here for Streaming Video Part 2

MUST READ -- No-Plane-Theory

2009-06-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

http://killtown.911review.org

Debunking the 9/11 *Anti-No-Plane-Theory* Myths

Originally published March 2008.
Broken links updated June 2009.

by CB_Brooklyn

(mirrored @ checktheevidence.com)

From the moment people thought that planes crashed in the World Trade Center, the brainwashing had begun.

The “official” account of Boeing 767s striking the North and South Towers, at 400+MPH and 500+MPH respectively, became glued in peoples’ minds as “fact” because of the “tee-vee”. Good ol’ tee-vee. We all trust the media.

Even in 1938, when Orson Welles directed a special Halloween radio broadcast of the novel “War of the Worlds”, millions of Americans believed Martians were invading earth. Everyone trusts the media! (As a side note, I’d like to advertise a new article by Andrew Johnson: “Mars Anomalies”.)

It should come to no surprise how the media affects peoples’ minds and our culture, and the media’s reporting of 9/11 is no exception.

The 9/11 coverup perpetrators had their deceptive propaganda well planned. With their total control over the media they successfully conditioned most into believing their “19 boxcutter-wielding Muslims” story. People were overwhelmed; their brains saturated with the propaganda.

November 10, 2001 - George W Bush brainwashes the world into thinking the idea of “inside job” is crazy: ”Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20...20011110-3.html [removed]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5M0xtxQVQ

But the propaganda didn’t stop there. The coverup perps, the experts they are, knew some people would see through their “boxcutter” deception, so they crafted an alternate propaganda… specifically targeting those already suspicious of the “official” story.

Lenin, the first Communist dictator after the takeover of Russia in 1917, is widely credited with the following quotation, "The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves."
http://www.realnews247.com/fascism_disguis...t_democracy.htm

This alternate propaganda is promoted by government plants within the “truth movement”, along with its fabricated evidence (such as molten metal). Of course, the media carefully publicize this “evidence” as a “wacky conspiracy theory”…

November 14, 2005 - Tucker Carlson brainwashes the world into thinking the idea of an “inside job” theory is offensive. Steven Jones promotes the “alternate propaganda”:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10053445

Yet, the coverup perpetrators use ridicule to keep the “REAL” version hidden…

December 6, 2006 - Steven E Jones brainwashes the 9/11 “truth movement” into thinking the idea of directed energy weapons and no planes is “crazy disinfo”: “Of late, [Jim Fetzer] refers often to his association now with Judy Wood and Morgan Reynolds. These two are noted for their no-planes-hit-the-Towers theories and for promoting the notion of ray-beams from space knocking down the Towers.”
http://judicial-inc.biz/Steven_Jones_quits_911.htm

Jones is one of many in and around the “truth movement” associated with Los Alamos where Directed Energy Weapons are researched. See here to learn how the 9/11 attacks, the 9/11 cover up, and the 9/11 "truth movement" were orchestrated by people associated with directed energy weapons and the media. Jones also suppressed free energy research in ways that mirror his 9/11 coverup:

9/11 Directed Energy Weapon / TV-Fakery Suppression Timeline
By CB_Brooklyn
http://www.checktheevidence.co.uk/cms/inde...d=151&Itemid=60

Timeline of Events Involving Steve Jones, Crockett Grabbe and Steve Koonin
By Russ Gerst
http://www.checktheevidence.co.uk/cms/inde...d=162&Itemid=60

If no-planes/TV-Fakery were “crazy disinfo”, why didn’t the media use it to discredit the “truth movement”? Here’s a video of Dr Morgan Reynolds on FOX News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reQZT9Hzvt8

Certainly if no-planes/TV-Fakery were “crazy disinfo”, the media would have invited Dr Reynolds back. Why didn’t they?

On top of that, why didn’t the media report Reynolds’ or Wood’s court cases, represented by Attorney Jerry Leaphart?

Dr Morgan Reynolds, suing on behalf of the United States of America and demanding a Trial by Jury, has evidence that the Media broadcasted cartoons of an airplane hitting the South Tower.
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&...e1=federal_case

Docket No. 1:07-cv-04612-GBD
Title: Dr. Morgan Reynolds ex rel. USA vs. Science Applications International Corp. et al.
Venue: United States District Court, Southern District of New York
Judge: George B. Daniels

Dr Judy Wood, suing on behalf of the United States of America and demanding a Trial by Jury, has evidence that Directed Energy Weapons were a causal factor in the destruction of the World Trade Center.
http://drjudywood.com/articles/NIST/Qui_Tam_Wood.html

Docket No. 1:07-cv-03314-GBD
Title: Dr. Judy Wood ex rel. USA vs. Applied Research Associates, Inc. et al.
Venue: United States District Court, Southern District of New York
Judge: George B. Daniels

=================================================
UPDATE!!! While composing this article the author became aware of the following:

New York Times
“For Engineer, a Cloud of Litigation After 9/11”
By Jim Dwyer
February 23, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/nyregion/23about.htm

The relevant quote is as follows (emphasis added):

”… one man has sued on behalf of the United States, claiming that Mr. Gilsanz is part of a vast conspiracy to cover up the truth about 9/11, including the “so-called building failures.” The lawsuit maintains that exotic weaponry actually destroyed the buildings, and that the airplanes were mass psychological trickery.”

Wood and Reynolds have filed two separate lawsuits.

No mention of Wood/Reynolds/Leaphart’s names in the Times article.
=================================================

Let us review…

The media (i.e. MSNBC):
promote the “official” version as “the truth”
ridicule the “alternate” version as the “offensive wacky conspiracy theory”
shun the “REAL” version and court cases

Plants in the ”truth movement” (i.e. Steven Jones):
promote the “alternate” version as “the truth”
ridicule the “REAL” version as “offensive wacky conspiracy theory”

We can now understand why many “truthers” shy away from no-planes/TV-Fakery. Seems the 9/11 coverup perps tricked the “truth movement” with a well orchestrated plan of deception! Will these theories really “damage” the “truth movement”, or has the movement merely been tricked into thinking so?

Many “truthers” often wonder why the mainstream media hasn’t broken the “inside job” story yet. The reason is simple: The 9/11 perps have not been exposed. (Check the “Suppression Timeline” linked above.)

Only after the real 9/11 perpetrators are widely exposed with the media break!

Will “truthers” finally start promoting no-planes/TV-Fakery? If the “truth movement” can’t admit their mistakes, why should the average person? People will simply continue believing what they feel most comfortable with: the “boxcutter” story. They don’t care about the evidence. Why should they? After all, the “truth movement” doesn’t. Or do they???

How many “truthers” have looked at the no-planes/TV-Fakery evidence lately… evidence that anyone can understand?

Below you will find a ton of evidence. Look it through… you maybe surprised!

======================================================
======================================================
======================================================

*HOLOGRAMS / PROJECTIONS*

Claim: Just the idea that planes were projected in the air is loony tune crazy!

FACT: This technology was reported in the media before 9/11 pertaining to military psychological operations (PSYOPS).

Washington Post
“When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing”
By William M. Arkin
February 1, 1999
http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=2970

A few notable quotes (emphasis added):

According to a military physicist given the task of looking into the hologram idea, the feasibility had been established of projecting large, three-dimensional objects that appeared to float in the air.

…

…washingtonpost.com has learned that a super secret program was established in 1994 to pursue the very technology for PSYOPS application. The "Holographic Projector" is described in a classified Air Force document as a system to "project information power from space ... for special operations deception missions."

…

Voice-morphing? Fake video? Holographic projection? They sound more like Mission Impossible and Star Trek gimmicks than weapons. Yet for each, there are corresponding and growing research efforts as the technologies improve and offensive information warfare expands.

*EYEWITNESS REPORTS*

Claim: Thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers witnessed commercial airliners hit the towers.

FACT: Few people reported hearing and seeing planes. Most testimonies of those who did are inconsistent with that of a wide-body commercial airliner hitting a building at 800 feet altitude, full throttle.

A jet plane takeoff at 300 feet altitude is 10 times louder than a rock concert:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy99/phy99405.htm

Wide body commercial airliners are LOUD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJliayH6co
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldIEzBMI6qA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ph-66g5L1g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1YHn9c3AAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7vhL0Mm9bw

A very small percentage of the approximately 500 First Responders at the WTC reported seeing commercial airliners. An even smaller number reported hearing them. However, they had no trouble hearing the fighter jets later on. See this analysis of the WTC Task Force Interviews for full information:

Going in Search of Planes in NYC - by Andrew Johnson
http://www.checktheevidence.co.uk/cms/inde...d=134&Itemid=60

Two examples…

WTC Task Force Interview
Stephen Gregory
Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Communications
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyreg...HIC/9110008.PDF

Excerpts (pages 20-21) (emphasis added):

Q. Where were you when the second plane hit?
A. We were down at the command post between Liberty and Albany on the west side of West Street. …

Q. Did you see or hear the second plane before it hit the World Trade Center?

A. I never actually saw the plane, but l heard it. You could hear it coming in and then we heard the explosion and you could hear the roar of the plane coming in. At first I didn't realize it was a plane. I thought it was like the roar of fire, like something had just incinerated, like a gas tank or an oil tank. It sounded like a tremendous roar and then you heard boom and then there was a big fire, a lot of fire, a big fireball. I never actually saw a plane hit the building. I never saw that. I saw it on television, but I never saw it while I was standing there.

WTC Task Force Interview
Murray Murad
Lieutenant Investigator, Bureau of Investigations and Trials
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyreg...HIC/9110009.PDF

Excerpts (pages 2-5) (emphasis added) [my comments in brackets]:

Well, I was conducting business down on Greenwich and Liberty at Engine 10, Truck 10, on that day.

…

It was about 8:41 that we heard a plane hovering over the fire house. It sounded like the plane was right on top of us. [400MPH airplanes do not “hover”]

…

So about two or three minutes after hearing it, you heard something like revving. We took a look, and, boom, the north tower is hit. [Is “two or three minutes” realistic? Being that 400 MPH is well over 5 mile a minute, did Murad also hear planes take off and land at LaGuardia Airport, approximately 10 miles away?]

…

Maybe about 10 to 12-minutes after that first plane, I heard another plane. Then I said to myself, we're being attacked.

I ran downstairs. No sooner did I run downstairs and look up, that I saw the second plane strike the south tower. It was such a vicious hit and such a precision hit, it was unbelievable. [How come he didn’t report the deafening sound of a 500+ MPH commercial jet right above hit head?]

==========================================

A precision hit all right. But… retired commercial airline / military pilot, Russ Wittenberg, who flew for Pan Am and United for over 30 years, piloted Flight 93 (Shanksville) and Flight 175 (South Tower) before 9/11. He says the alleged hijackers could not have flown those planes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3606159506368831731

==========================================

This analysis of the book “Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001” also has some interesting quotes:

The Original No Planers: Most Witnesses at the WTC Heard And Saw No Planes
By Morgan Reynolds
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&...inal_no_planers

A few selected quotes (emphasis added):

• Gary Smiley, 38, FDNY paramedic, was carrying an injured woman across Church Street who kept yelling "plane" and Smiley recalled, "I looked up at that point, and that's when the second plane hit the South Tower. The explosion was unbelievable. It was right over my head. You didn't hear anything. People ask me sometimes, 'What did you hear?' I heard nothing. "

• John Abruzzo, 43, staff accountant, Port Authority, and C5-C6 quadriplegic: "I worked on the 69th floor of the North Tower...My desk faces north. I can see over my partition out the north windows. I don't remember hearing any sound, or an explosion. But I do remember that the building suddenly swayed, and that it swayed in one direction only. I thought the building was going to collapse right then and there. We've been in storms, you know, where the building sways back and forth, but that's nothing...it took an hour and a half to get from the 69th floor down to the street level, and another ten to fifteen minutes to get to Stuyvesant High School."

• Steven Bienkowski, 37, NYPD Harbor Unit Scuba Team: "I happened to be sitting in the back left side of the (helicopter) ship. There were two pilots, two crew chiefs, my partner, and I. We were on the southwest side of the South Tower, and I glanced over my shoulder and there came a United Airlines aircraft right at us, a little bit underneath where we were. And I do mean a little bit underneath us. It probably missed us by about three hundred feet, and it proceeded to fly right through the building, right in front of us. I must have gone numb. I don't remember hearing an explosion, although it must have been extremely loud. I don't remember the helicopter moving...When that second plane went into the building, it just looked like an evil magician's trick. It looked nothing like what I would have imagined a plane crashing into a building would look like. The plane just completely disappeared and turned into a giant fireball. Being there was surreal. I guess the brain tries to protect you in times like that. You have some kind of defense mechanism in there that shuts down some of your senses. It just doesn't allow you to believe."

==========================================

An interesting fact: CameraPlanet was responsible for collecting the amateur footage on 9/11.
Its owner, Steven Rosenbaum, is a magician:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070606092618/...rs.com/node/555

==========================================

Some witnesses reported explosions, bombs and missiles. A few examples:

National Review has this quote: “I saw it," he says, "It could have been a plane, but I think it was a bomb — uh, a missile. This could be World War III."
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock052402.asp

The BBC reports: I distinctly remember somebody saying: “A missile just hit the trade center, I saw a missile hit.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/worl...when/html/1.stm

According to a CNN transcript, a reporter said: a small plane -- I did -- it looked like a propeller plane, came in from the west. An eyewitness also states: I had no idea it was a plane. I just saw the entire top part of the World Trade Center explode. So I turned on the TV when I heard they said it was a plane. It was really strange.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.01.html

This eyewitness specifically says NO plane, just a bomb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0eC3uns3pA

*AIRPLANE PARTS*

Claim: Airplane wreckage proves planes hit the towers.

FACT: The available evidence does not add up.

WTC Task Force Interview
Stephen Gregory
Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Communications
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyreg...HIC/9110008.PDF

Excerpt (page 20) (emphasis added):

Q. The airplane parts that you referred to, they were on West Street or on Vesey Street?
A. I saw airplane parts on West Street.
Q. How did you know they were airplane parts?
A. It looked like pieces of a plane, skin of a plane. I mean, they weren't really discernible. I couldn't say this was this part of a plane or that was that part. Just knowing a plane had hit the building and I looked and I saw it looked like the skin off a wing or a fuselage or wherever it came from.
Q. Clearly not building material?
A. No. The building material was sort of gray and you could see it, you know, how it differed from the plane. …

WTC Task Force Interview
Salvatore Cassano
Chief
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyreg...HIC/9110011.PDF

Excerpt (pages 14-15) (emphasis added):

Q. On Vesey Street when you first arrived there, what was the scene like? That was where the first plane that hit. Was there any debris on that street?

A. No, there was no debris on that street at all from the first plane. I drove right up there and then like I said, I had just opened my door and the second -- I thought it was the secondary explosion. I didn't know it was another plane in the south tower, because when I heard it, I looked up and I saw debris. It had to be debris flying over from the south tower. Not much, but there was enough coming down in the street where I took off and I ducked into a garage until it cleared up.

After the secondary explosion in the north tower, I didn't know what the hell - I didn't know it was another plane that had hit until I got around to the command post.

There are NO verified airplane parts.
Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests were filed but the government refuses to release documentation:
http://www.911blogger.com/node/14081

See here for more:
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&..._with_jones#NBB

*TV NETWORKS & MILITARY PSYOPS CONNECTION*

Claim: Just the idea the TV Networks and military would work together to deceive the public is wacky cookoo!

FACT: The TV Networks/Military/PSYOPS connection was reported by the media before 9/11.

WorldNetDaily
“Army 'psyops' at CNN - News giant employed military 'psychological operations' personnel”
By Geoff Metcalf
March 3, 2000
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article....RTICLE_ID=17437

Some notable quotes (emphasis added):

CNN employed active duty U.S. Army psychological operations personnel last year, WorldNetDaily has confirmed through several sources at Fort Bragg and elsewhere.

Maj. Thomas Collins, U.S. Information Service has confirmed that "psyops" (psychological operations) personnel, soldiers and officers, have worked in the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. The lend/lease exercise was part of an Army program called "Training With Industry." According to Collins, the soldiers and officers, "... worked as regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in the production of news."

…

The CNN military personnel were members of the Airmobile Fourth Psychological Operations Group, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of the main tasks of this group of almost 1200 soldiers and officers is to spread 'selected information.' Critics say that means dissemination of propaganda.

*TV-FAKERY*

Claim: Just the idea the TV Networks would broadcast fake footage is nutcase kooky!

FACT: This technology was reported in the media before 9/11 as being available by TV Networks and the military for the purpose of altering world politics.

Washington Post
“When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing”
By William M. Arkin
February 1, 1999
http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=2970

A few notable quotes (emphasis added):

Digital morphing — voice, video, and photo — has come of age, available for use in psychological operations. PSYOPS, as the military calls it, seek to exploit human vulnerabilities in enemy governments, militaries and populations to pursue national and battlefield objectives.

To some, PSYOPS is a backwater military discipline of leaflet dropping and radio propaganda. To a growing group of information war technologists, it is the nexus of fantasy and reality. Being able to manufacture convincing audio or video, they say, might be the difference in a successful military operation or coup.

The Independent
“When TV brings you the news as it didn't happen: Broadcasters are using virtual imaging technology to alter live broadcasts - and not even the news is safe from tampering”
January 24, 2000
http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=3441

A few notable quotes (emphasis added):

Viewers tuning into American broadcaster CBS's recent news coverage of the millennium celebrations in New York witnessed a televisual sleight of hand which enabled CBS to alter the reality of what they saw. Using "virtual imaging" technology, the broadcaster seamlessly adjusted live video images to include an apparently real promotion for itself in Times Square. The move has sparked debate about the ethics of using advances in broadcast technology to alter reality without telling viewers that what they are seeing isn't really there.

While it's little surprise that advances in TV technology enable broadcasters to better manipulate existing images and create new ones, what is surprising is that this was done during a live broadcast and in a news programme. The CBS evening news coverage involved replacing the logo of rival network NBC with the CBS logo on a large video screen in Times Square. NBC was "outraged" by the use of the technology, and even CBS's evening news presenter, Dan Rather, admitted it was a "mistake".

…

The technology to do this comes from the defence industry where, following the end of the Cold War, a number of companies have developed new ways of commercially exploiting their military navigation and tracking expertise.

…

CBS's problems arise from the fact that its use of the PVI system went one step further than "enhancing" the look of its presentation: it tampered with the reality of an actual event it was depicting in a news show, raising the spectre of TV news reporters reporting "live" from around the world when they're actually far closer to home. The broadcaster - which has also used virtual imaging to modify the New York cityscape - defended itself by insisting: "CBS News' internal standards prohibit digital manipulation or other faking of news footage."

…

CBS is not the only broadcaster to use this technology in news broadcasts. Rival ABC recently included a report on Congress by a reporter wearing an overcoat in front of what to viewers seemed to be the US Capitol. The entire report was taped in a studio.

…

Trouble is, for the time being at least, the onus is on the viewer to draw any example of tampering with reality to the attention of the regulator which then would investigate retrospectively. Assuming, that is, that they realise what they are seeing isn't real.

Technology Review
“Lying With Pixels”
By Ivan Amato
July/August 2000
http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=35

A few notable quotes (emphasis added):

So far, real-time video manipulation has been within the grasp only of technologically sophisticated organizations such as TV networks and the military. But developers of the technology say it’s becoming simple and cheap enough to spread everywhere. And that has some observers wondering whether real-time video manipulation will erode public confidence in live television images, even when aired by news outlets. “Seeing may no longer be believing,” says Norman Winarsky, corporate vice president for information technology at Sarnoff. “You may not know what to trust.”

…

Deleting people or objects from live video, or inserting prerecorded people or objects into live scenes, is only the beginning of the deceptions becoming possible.

…

Combine the potential erosion of faith in video authenticity with the so-called “CNN effect” and the stage is set for deception to move the world in new ways. Livingston describes the CNN effect as the ability of mass media to go beyond merely reporting what is happening to actually influencing decision-makers as they consider military, international assistance and other national and international issues. “The CNN effect is real,” says James Currie, professor of political science at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington. “Every office you go into at the Pentagon has CNN on.” And that means, he says, that a government, terrorist or advocacy group could set geopolitical events in motion on the strength of a few hours’ worth of credibility achieved by distributing a snippet of well-doctored video.

…

With experience as an army reservist, as a staffer with a top-secret clearance on the Senate’s Intelligence Committee, and as a legislative liaison for the Secretary of the Army, Currie has seen governmental decision-making and politicking up close. He is convinced that real-time video manipulation will be, or already is, in the hands of the military and intelligence communities. And while he has no evidence yet that any government or nongovernment organization has deployed video manipulation techniques, real-time or not, for political or military purposes, he has no problem conjuring up disinformation scenarios. For example, he says, consider the impact of a fabricated video that seemed to show Saddam Hussein “pouring himself a Scotch and taking a big drink of it. You could run it on Middle Eastern television and it would totally undermine his credibility with Islamic audiences.”

*LAWS OF PHYSICS*

Claim: Just the idea the “airplane” videos violate physical laws is wacko disinfo!

FACT: Any video that shows an aluminum airplane with a plastic nosecone gliding through a steel/concrete building violates Newton’s Laws of Motion.

Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

High school physics states that the force an airplane exerts on a building is the same as the force a building exerts on an airplane.

Even Peter Jennings knew the 9/11 airplane video was fake. Note his nervousness and word fumbling when ABC plays this amateur clip back in slow motion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCDu2V3yjS4

As retired Aerospace Engineer Joseph Keith says: "The video is phony because airliners don’t meld into steel and concrete buildings, they crash against them!"
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&..._planer_resigns

An airliner would receive the most damage when crashing on a steel building. It would crash against the building, not effortlessly glide through as seen in the FOX 5 “nose out” video:

There were only two “live” news camera broadcasts - FOX5 (WNYW) and ABC7 (WABC) - with all others televised later in the day.

Here’s the ABC 7 shot of the “plane” disappearing behind the North Tower before impacting the South Tower:

==========================================
Is anyone aware… that in October 2007, the WABC Chopper 7 pilot, Paul Smith, was run over and killed by a taxi? The taxi swerved after being cutoff by a “black car”. This could be coincidence. But I find it odd that the camera operator, John Del Giorno, (who sat next to Smith in the chopper) was telephoned by 9/11 researcher, Jeff Hill, just a few months earlier. See here for the news reports covering Smith’s death, and an MP3 of the telephone conversation between Hill and Del Giorno:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/pumpitout/topic/700760/
==========================================

Note the CNN cartoon video:

These videos of real crashes show just how delicate airplanes are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyyIh5npMuU
http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=6642

Every known 9/11 WTC “airplane” video is archived here:
[Note: site is very resource intensive]
http://killtown.911review.org/2nd-hit.html

For those with difficulty understanding TV-Fakery via Newton’s Laws, note these:

The Incredible Moving Bridge (Naudet Brothers DVD):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoaxSLJTdeo

The Spinning WTC (WCBS Footage):
http://www.livevideo.com/video/killtown/3C...inning-wtc.aspx

*DEBUNKED?*

Claim: TV-Fakery has been debunked time and time again.

FACT:The violation of Newton’s Laws of Motion has never been explained.

Several “papers” claiming to debunk TV-Fakery have surfaced. However, not one of them approaches the obvious violation of Newton’s Laws regarding an aluminum airplane with a plastic nosecone gliding through a steel/concrete building. Instead, these strawman papers attempt to discredit TV-Fakery by “explaining away” a few points. Neither Steven Jones nor anyone in his team has ever addressed Newton’s Laws as it applies to TV-Fakery. (I wonder why…)

*BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS DATABASE*

Claim: The missing information for Flights 11 and 77 in the BTS Database means nothing.

FACT: An official at the BTS confirmed that flights with missing “tail number” and “actual departure time” information have been cancelled.

9/11 Researcher Jeff Hill placed a call to the BTS and recorded the conversation:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/pumpitout/topic/746800/1/

*CELL PHONE CALLS*

Claim: Just the idea the cell phone calls were faked is cookoo crazy!

FACT: Advanced voice synthesizer technology exists and was reported in the media before 9/11 as being available for military operations. The technology was developed at Los Alamos. (Was Steven Jones involved??)

Washington Post
“When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing”
By William M. Arkin
February 1, 1999
http://forum.911movement.org/index.php?showtopic=2970

A few notable quotes (emphasis added):
It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

By taking just a 10-minute digital recording of Steiner's voice, scientist George Papcun is able, in near real time, to clone speech patterns and develop an accurate facsimile.

==========================================
==========================================
==========================================

Additional Information

==========================================

Dr Reynolds suggested the following addition:

“March 5, 2006
Morgan Reynolds publishes article demonstrating at length that all four plane "crashes" were physically impossible as depicted by government and media. All four "disappearances" were hoaxes proven by absence of airplane debris, undersized holes, absurd silhouettes of passage, impossible physics of aluminum planes gliding through structural steel without losing a flap, panel or wingtip, etc.”
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&...1=we_have_holes

==========================================

And, of course, original no-plane research by Web Fairy:
http://webfairy.org/home.htm

==========================================
==========================================
==========================================

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the 9/11 Researchers and proofreaders whose work made this paper possible.

Special thanks to Jerry Leaphart (and all others involved), whose legal documents sourced the “War of the Worlds” and Gregory/Murad testimony ideas used.

:END

Here is some first hit testimony. Before the official story was born, the eyewitnesses were thinking that they saw a smaller aircraft hit the North Tower:

QUOTE

“I saw it come up from the left, and I saw the plane coming through to the building, go inside, a small plane….no, no, it was plane, you know, like they teach the people to pilot plane, small plane, you know, it was that kind of plane….yes, going into the building, and I never saw that plane before. It's like something, I don't know, it's like they work with the motors, I never saw a plane like that before!”-Karim Arraki (He said the second plane was identical)

“I was waiting a table and I literally saw a, it seemed to be a small plane. I just heard a couple of noises, it looked like it like ‘bounced’ of the building and then I heard a, I just saw a huge like ball of fire on top and then the smoke seemed to simmer down….it just seemed like a smaller plane, I don’t think it was anything commercial…”-Stuart

“We’re walking the dogs and we saw a plane flying really low, a jet, a small jet, and it flew directly into the World Trade Centre. And then all the pieces fell to the bottom…in seconds.”-Anonymous

“…we saw a plane flying low overhead which caught all of our attention. We looked up. It was making a b-line for the World Trade Centre. It was very low, extremely low, not a big plane like an airliner …uh… but not a tiny propeller plane, a small, small jet plane.”-Mary Cozza

"I mean, I hate to admit this, but I'm sitting there hoping that someone has made a mistake; there has been an accident; that this isn't the hijacked airplane, because there is confusion. We were told it was a light commuter airplane."

"I thought it could have been an accident...I thought the plane was much smaller..."-Sid Bedingfield

"I was told by somebody that we had an eyewitness who happened to be an off-duty firefighter who told me that he saw the first building get hit and it was hit by a prop jet, which I think turned out to be the wrong information, but everybody sees things differently. But he said he was an eyewitness. I gave him to a fire marshal. I never got his name personally."-Steven Mosiello

"We proceeded in Tower 1. I think the revolving doors were kind of busted up, so I think we went through a window. At that point we were still not sure that it was a plane that had hit the tower. There was some talk from the civilians coming down that a plane hit. The consensus was that it was a small plane."-Roy Chelson

"Numerous civilians were telling me that a plane had hit the building. There were discrepancies as to the type of plane. Some were saying it was a Cessna or Leer jet type, a small jet plane."-Anthony Bartolomey

(These reports are much like the reports at the Pentagon. Don Wright said that it looked like a commuter plane. Steve Patterson said it appeared to hold 8-12 passengers. D.S. Khavkin said that it was a small commercial plane.)

===========

The many eyewitness accounts prove that a smaller aircraft hit the first Tower. AGM-86 missiles look like smaller planes while going fast. If one was painted with American Airlines or United Airlines colors, you wouldn't know the difference while it was going fast, which it would be while in flight (500mph). This means that the reports of a smaller plane are consistent with this type of missile. The theory of a missile was given stronger support by the following accounts, especially Don Dahler's:

"Hey Grandpa, I'll tell you what woke me up. They bombed the World Trade Centre. I'm looking at it and Mi-Kyung's video taping it. Terrible. I heard, Grandpa, I saw it. It could have been a plane, but I think it was a bomb...a missile...er...this could be world war three."-Mi Kyung Heller

“…I can only describe as, it sounded like a missile, not an airplane….it was definitely not the sound of a prop plane or anything like that….I grew up on military bases and I know the sound of jets and I’ve been in war zones and heard those kinds of different sounds….the sound itself was not of a prop plane , it was perhaps a jet, but it could have been a missile as well….it was high pitched, but it had a…er…a…whooshing sound, not, not like a prop plane…”-Don Dahler

(NOTE: This description of sound is similar to the reports at the Pentagon. Steve Patterson heard a high pitched squeal and Lon Rains, who was 'convinced it was a missile' at the time, heard a loud whooshing sound. These descriptions are very consistent with an AGM-86 missile.)

“Bob said he heard it sounded like a rocket…”-Bob and Bri Video

"One person actually said that it was like a military style plane that actually shot missiles into the building."-Anthony Bartolomey

==========

The plane story was fake. Do you want to believe these eyewitnesses, or CNN spook Sean Murtagh?

“I just witnessed a plane that appeared to be cruising at slightly lower-than-normal altitude over New York City, and it appears to have crashed into -- I don't know which tower it is -- but it hit directly in the middle of one of the World Trade Centre towers….it was a jet. It looked like a two-engine jet, maybe a 737….a large passenger commercial jet….it was teetering back and forth, wingtip to wingtip, and it looks like it crashed into, probably, 20 stories from the top of the World Trade Centre, maybe the 80th to 85th floor….the plane just was coming in low, and the wingtips tilted back and forth…”-Sean Murtagh, alleged eyewitness and suspected fake witness

FLIGHT 175
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/victims/u...

CREW
Capt. Victor Saracini, 51, VICTOR J SARACINI 29 Aug 1950 -- 11 Sep 2001
Michael Horrocks MICHAEL R HORROCKS 24 Mar 1963 -- 11 Sep 2001
Robert J. Fangman (ROBERT J FANGMAN 02 Feb 1896 -- 30 Dec 1990)
Amy N. Jarret, 28 AMY N JARRET 03 Oct 1972 -- 11 Sep
Amy R. King Nothing Found
Kathryn L. Laborie Nothing Found
Alfred G. Marchand Nothing Found
Michael C. Tarrou Nothing found
Alicia N. Titus Nothing Found

FLIGHT 93
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/victims/u...

CREW
Jason Dahl, 43 Nothing Found
Leroy Homer, 36 Nothing Found
Lorraine Bay Nothing Found
Sandra Bradshaw, 38 Nothing Found
Wanda Green Nothing Found
CeeCee Lyles Nothing Found
Deborah Welsh Nothing Found

HOW AMERICA GETS AWAY WITH MURDER

2009-06-22T04:53:00.001-07:00

MICHAEL MANDEL ON HOW AMERICA GETS AWAY WITH MURDER
by Edward S. Herman
July-August 2004

Michael Mandel.s How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage, and Crimes Against Humanity (Pluto: June 2004) is my favorite book of 2003-June 2004 (for the record, numbers two and three are Chomsky.s Hegemony or Survival and Frank Ackerman.s and Lisa Heinzerling.s Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing). Mandel.s book is a scholarly but eminently readable and completely convincing demonstration that the U.S. wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and the institutional apparatus that has given them legal support, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY, Tribunal ) and the UN, have made a travesty of the law and are returning the world to the law of the jungle. The book is a perfect antidote to the .humanitarian intervention. claims of the spokespersons and apologists for a resurgent U.S. and Western imperialism.

Mandel is a Professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, Canada, with a specialty in international law and with some enlightening experience as the individual who, in May 1999, in the midst of NATO.s 78-day bombing war against Yugoslavia, presented a petition for the indictment of 68 NATO leaders for their war crimes to Louise Arbour, then prosecutor of the Tribunal. His account of this experience and his analysis of Arbour.s and her successor Carla Del Ponte.s handling of this petition is crushing, and even funny, as he contrasts their finely-tuned adjustments to NATO.s needs for public relations service to its military plans with their crude and often laughable modes of evading even an official investigation of the documented evidence of NATO crimes.

A main theme of Mandel.s book is the huge and now underrated importance of the .supreme crime. of aggression as a source of mass killing, a crime that was the focal point of the Nuremberg trials and the basis of the UN Charter with its primary design to end the .scourge of war.. Mandel points out that the Nuremberg court regarded other war crimes and horrors as commonly derivatives of aggression, a crime that .contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.. War has horror-enhancement built-in as mutual destruction and killings escalate and restraints give way in the course of the struggle. (Mandel notes that the Holocaust occurred in the midst of war, with 97 percent of the murdered Jews living outside German territory in war-conquered land).

The problem for the United States (and the world) has been that this country is now in the business of aggression and its commission of the .supreme crime. is standard policy, thereby bringing the .scourge of war. across the globe in direct violation of the UN charter. Mandel.s first three chapters, on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, center on the fact that each was a case of aggression by any credible definition of the word, hence a supreme crime. Thus, getting the rest of the world to accept and even facilitate its aggressions has been a major task for U.S. leaders and their official and unofficial propagandists. Mandel.s book is an account of how the United States has gained acceptance, toleration, and even help for its aggressions.

One way it has done this is by claiming humanitarian goals or .self-defense. that justify its bypassing the UN, violating the UN Charter, and committing the supreme crime. Mandel makes mincemeat of these claims, which is not difficult to do but which Mandel does with an effective melding of relevant facts and an analysis of the law. He goes to pains to show that in each of these cases there was no attempt to resolve the problems by peaceful means.aggression was intended and was carried out, with pathetic intellectual and untenable legal cover. And it was swallowed by the UN and G-8, first easily (Kosovo, then Afghanistan) but with some foot-dragging on Iraq. Mandel stresses the importance of the U.S./NATO Kosovo war law violations as a major step on the road to a breakdown of any international law obstruction to the supreme crime, when carried out by the United States.

Another apologetic route has been the claim that what the United States does as it kills civilians in its wars of aggression is .collateral damage,. in contrast with the intentional killing of civilians in 9/11 and other attacks by retail terrorists. Mandel shows clearly that collateral damage is not .unintentional,. as it is well understood that civilians will die in the raids even if the exact identities and number of victims is unclear. He has an excellent analysis showing that killing innocent bystanders when targeting someone else has long been considered murder in Western law, even in the state of Texas. Mandel also shows how much the downgrading of killing labeled collateral is linked to a downgrading of the importance of the victims. He notes Brookings analyst Michael O.Hanlon.s charactererization of 1,000 civilians killed as .a mercifully low number,. .Not, .O my God, we killed innocent people!..

Mandel also stresses that discussions of collateral damage and violations of the laws of war in the U.S. assaults regularly fail to take account of the fact that these lesser crimes are being committed in the context of the .supreme crime..which makes them inherently indefensible as parts of an illegal and immoral whole. It is as if a discussion of an armed robbery should debate only the modalities of the robbery, not the crime of robbery itself. Mandel points out that with the start of the Iraq invasion, Human Rights Watch and even Amnesty International .issued stern warnings..to all the .belligerents,. reminding them of their duties under the laws and customs of war. But neither said a single word about the illegality of the war itself or the supreme criminal responsibility of the leaders of the countries that had started it.. Human Rights Watch has even swallowed the NATO propaganda distinction between deliberate and collateral killings. These were all important gifts to the aggressor.s propaganda needs.

A further apologetic route is the use of tribunals to deal with target country war crimes. Mandel has excellent chapters on the War Crimes Tribunal (4), The Trial of Milosevic (5), and How America Gets Away With Murder (6), the last with Mandel.s description and analysis of how the Tribunal dealt with his petition on NATO war crimes. There is no finer account of the structured bias of the Tribunal, its de facto control by the United States, the integration of its work to the needs of U.S. political objectives in the area, and its judicial failings, which characterize it at every level of its operations. Mandel is no fan of Milosevic.s, but he makes it very clear that he is on trial strictly because he was the political target of the NATO war, and the supreme criminals needed his demonization, arrest and show-trial guilt to prove the justice of their cause. The abuses of the rule of law in his seizure and shipment to The Hague, and the judicial malpractice in his trial and his struggle in the face of these abuses, have made him a hero by default as he has regularly made the Tribunal court look bad.

The Tribunal was obligated by its charter to investigate and prosecute all credible charges of war crimes in Yugoslavia, which would include any by NATO forces. Thus in May 1999 Mandel presented Arbour with a compilation of evidence on NATO war crimes, with an accompanying legal analysis of why these constituted serious crimes. But Arbour and Del Ponte stalled for over a year, with Del Ponte eventually announcing that there was no basis for even opening an investigation with a crime base of only 500 dead, although Arbour.s May 1999 indictment of Milosevic was based on a crime base of 340 victims, mostly from a war zone, following the provision of information by one side in the war (the United States and Britain), information not verified by the Tribunal, and with only a three week lag to an indictment. Arbour had earlier stated that she would .only disregard unsubstantiated conclusions,. but this was only one of many principles set aside in the interest of service to her sponsor and funder.

Mandel traces in fine detail Arbour.s and Del Ponte.s (and before them Richard Goldstone.s) stream of actions and public relations announcements closely geared to precise NATO needs of the moment.indicting some Serbs to remove them from participation in political negotiations, but most often doing it to demonize target leaders and put some planned NATO act of violence in a more positive light. Mandel.s analysis of Del Ponte.s rationale for not investigating NATO.s acts, including the openly expressed belief that NATO officials only tell the truth..I accept the assurances given by NATO leaders..--that their press releases are reliable evidence, and that all of their killings of civilians and destruction of civilian sites were .genuine mistakes,. is devastating and amusing. For anybody reading this account with a half-open mind it will be very clear that the Tribunal was (and remains) a political and public relations arm of NATO, providing NATO with a convenient judicial façade.

An important theme of Mandel.s account of the work of the Tribunal is that, as an institution serving NATO aims, the Tribunal was an integral part of a war machine, .an instrument for the legitimation of war and the undermining of peace.. Mandel shows that the Tribunal was established and began operations in the same 1992-1993 time frame as the Clinton administration.s subversion of a series of efforts to settle the Bosnian conflict by negotiations, and he makes an excellent case that it was created in .an obvious attempt to derail the peace process.. Just prior to the Tribunal.s formation State Department official Lawrence Eagleberger publicly named the major Serb leaders as candidates for a war crimes trial, and suggested that bringing them to justice must be a high NATO priority. A regular theme of NATO and Tribunal officials was that we must not sacrifice .justice. in the interest of some political settlement.

Underlying this bias was a NATO aim of weakening and destroying an independent and Serb-predominant Yugoslavia. This required warfare, and was eventually successfully achieved by warfare. But meanwhile it was necessary to cover this over with the demand for .justice,. with the Tribunal (and the propaganda army of Rieff, Ignatieff, Sontag, Hitchens et al.) serving well in providing this cover for war. Mandel points out that many thousands of the dead in Bosnia followed the decision to sacrifice peace in the alleged interest of bringing justice.

It goes almost without saying that the substance of Mandel.s account and analysis of the role and work of the Tribunal is not to be found even in trace elements in mainstream accounts, as the propaganda system has geared itself completely to the NATO-friendly portrayal of the Tribunal as an independent instrument of justice. This is well illustrated by Marlise Simons. work on the Tribunal in the New York Times, strictly in the apologetic mode, as I.ve described with David Peterson in .Marlise Simons on the Yugoslavia Tribunal: A Study in Total Propaganda Service. (http://www.zmag.org/simonsyugo.htm)

The recent apology by the editors of the New York Times for their performance in the run-up to the Iraq invasion-occupation (.The Times and Iraq,. May 26, 2004) could no doubt be extended to other matters, but none would be more urgent than an apology for their coverage of the Tribunal and Balkans. conflicts where the news-truth gap has been and remains astronomical.

In accord with his main theme, Mandel stresses the fact that the Tribunal charter carefully exempts the supreme crime of aggression from prosecution, leaving only the lesser crimes. These lesser crimes have been pursued with thorough-going political opportunism, exempting NATO and its Bosnian Muslim and Croatian clients from indictment for the same acts that bring Serbs into the dock, as Mandel demonstrates. Mandel argues that there was no justification for the Tribunal ignoring the NATO leaders. commission of the .supreme crime,. as this is a key element of international law even if not part of the Tribunal.s mandate. So the ultimate irony of the Tribunal.s role is that it was an instrument aiding in the commission of the supreme crime, a remarkable testimonial to the U.S. ability to manipulate international institutions to service its needs.

In his last chapter (7), and one of his best, .Rounding Up the Usual Suspects While America Gets Away With Murder,. Mandel discusses the International Criminal Court (ICC) and various other developments bearing on the evolution of international law and justice, such as the Pinochet case, the Belgian law reaching out to international criminals, the Rwanda court (ICTR), and the general problem of justice and truth in the New World Order. He shows how the ICC.s jurisdiction was structured once again to exempt the .supreme crime. from the list of crimes it would address, in accord with U.S. demands. This did not prevent Kofi Annan from claiming that under the new ICC .no state.can abuse human rights with impunity.. Thus, while the ICC has not, like the ICTY, been .handicrafted for the specific task of legitimating aggressive war.it leaves a great swath of international crime untouched, supreme crimes and crimes of the great powers..

Mandel shows how strenuously the Clinton administration worked during the period of formation of the ICC to water down its reach. Clinton never intended to join, he merely wanted to weaken it and make sure any U.S. actions would never be interfered with. To this end, he and his agents like David Sheffer made sure that war crimes did not include nuclear weapons, cluster bombs and land mines, and they obtained the Section 98 (2) right to negotiate bilateral exemptions from ICC prosecutions. They tried hard to arrange for Security Council control of the ICC agenda, which might have made the ICC acceptable because of the U.S. veto. Without it there was the threat of .politically motivated. prosecutions! Clinton.s actions flowed easily into the hardline Bush stance on the ICC.

Mandel describes the great pains to which the ICC has gone to make entry by the United States appealing, groveling almost without limit. He concludes that, .this is a court desperate for credibility, not with the world but with the world.s supreme international criminals. The Americans were very wise to stay out of this court, because this court is going to spend the rest of its life trying to convince them that they have nothing to fear from it. We can.t possibly look to a court like this for anything but the roundup of the usual suspects..

Mandel shows that only the usual suspects are likely to be rounded up across the globe. In analysing the Pinochet case, he tears to shreds the claims of the Human Rights Watch and other humanitarian interventionists that it marks the end of the era of impunity. His careful examination of this episode shows how crudely the Blair government managed to assure that the West.s own mass murderer would not be subjected to a trial for war crimes. The hypocrisy here of the .anti-impunity gang, fresh from their Kosovo crusade, and still howling for the arrest of Milosevic. could not be surpassed (Mandel points out that Pinochet was not released till a year after the end of the Kosovo war, and a year before the kidnapping of Milosevic, a spacing helpful to avoiding notice of the contrast in treatment between ally and target).

The Belgian universal anti-impunity law of 1994 saw Sharon, Blair, Bush, and U.S. general Tommy Franks threatened with prosecution, but.big surprise!.under U.S. pressure that law was emasculated and none of these villains will be brought to trial. The only people actually tried and given prison sentences under this .universal. law were four Hutus, two of them nuns. Mandel quotes both a Hutu and a Tutsi on the political nature of this proceeding, the Tutsi saying .They [the Belgians] ought to put themselves on trial.. But only the people of the South are brought to trial, not their former colonial masters, whose crime record in their former domains was and remains impressive.

As Mandel demonstrates, the performance of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda fits into his overall analysis very comfortably. The United States was not interested in the mass killings in Rwanda, and in fact sided with the Tutsi invaders who subsequently devastated and killed vast numbers in the Congo as well as large numbers in Rwanda. Because of the U.S. disinterest, the ICTR was poorly funded, and because of the pro-Tutsi tilt of its principals the serious Tutsi killings of civilians were off the ICTR agenda, just as NATO crimes were off the ICTY agenda. Mandel notes that Arbour justified this ignoring of the thousands of Tutsi killings on the ground that if the ICTR pursued Tutsi killers .they would shut us down.. But Mandel points out that .These are the people, remember, who wouldn.t allow justice to be compromised by mere peace [in Bosnia and Kosovo]..

In short, it remains true today that to escape criminal proceedings for mass killing it is necessary to choose .to be with us. (Bush); whereas .they. and their allies had better watch out as the selective impunity laws and implementing institutions will not protect them. This does not produce a system of justice.not even partial justice.as the supreme criminals can use these compromised tribunals and courts to facilitate their own larger crimes and justify the serial implementation of these major crimes from which the lesser ones flow.

Michael Mandel.s book is a best buy and must reading for those who want to understand how the United States is ignoring, using and reshaping international law to serve its imperial needs..

First published in Z Magazine

Edward S. Herman is Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

==========================================

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio

The UNDERCOVER WAR is continueing!! USA still mames and murders
in the name of the state!!

National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation

October 23, 2007

On October 22, 2007, protests against Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation were called in over twenty cities. Parents and families of people murdered by police, students, movement activists, and people of all nationalities marched. In New York City, Cindy Sheehan spoke of being brutalized by police, and of the death of her son in Iraq, and Marcus Jones, the father of one of the Jena Six spoke by phone of his son Mychal Bell being re-jailed. In Atlanta, the city.s main newspaper reported that as the protest went past the city jail, .prisoners could be seen waving white T-shirts inside in an apparent show of support..

Protests were planned for Atlanta; Cleveland; Denver; Detroit; Eureka, CA; Flagstaff, AZ; Fresno, CA; Guelph, ON Canada: Houston; Kansas City, TX; Knoxville; Los Angeles; Louisville; Minneapolis; Montreal, QC (Canada); New Haven, CT; New Orleans, LA; New York City; Olympia, WA ; Pittsburgh; San Antonio, TX ; San Diego; Santa Rosa, CA; Seattle, WA; and St. Louis.

Following are some initial reports from correspondence received at Revolution and from other news sources:

LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles Los Angeles
Credit: Marcus

Protesters rallied at police headquarters at Parker Center, and marched to Mac Arthur Park where on May First, police shot rubber bullets at, and beat protesters and reporters at an immigrants rights demonstration.

More than 300 people entered MacArthur Park in Los Angeles this October 22nd chanting: .We.re fired up! Can.t take it no more! Police brutality has got to go!. Marchers carried signs protesting ICE raids on immigrants, and demanding Free the Jena Six. The march ended with a candle-light vigil for victims of police brutality.

Families who have lost loved ones to police murder, high school and college students, members from various organizations, and some residents from Pico Union marched across the same soccer field where the police brutally beat immigrant protestors and journalists on May 1st. They marched past the same picnic benches where the LAPD fired 150 rubber bullets into the park. One woman wrote her message in plain black letters: .Ya Basta! No Mas!. [[Enough! No more!]

High school students and other youth played an important part in organizing and bringing friends to the National Day of protest. A 14 year old student from Jordan HS in Watts said, .I couldn.t stay quiet. That.s why I came. People can.t be scared. We need to stand up.. Another student from Eagle Rock High school wasn.t able to bust out of school in a .walk-out. like she had hoped, so she staged a .climb-out. to participate in this .can.t miss. day.

Some youth marched with members of a Revolution Club, behind their banner, .Humanity Needs Revolution and Communism.. Other students came from as far away as Victorville, located about 100 miles outside of L.A.

Javier Quezada whose son was killed at a hospital where he was being treated, Norma and Norberto Martinez whose son was shot down on Valentine.s Day, and Lilian Mitchell spoke from the stage of how their children.s lives were stolen by the police. Lilian Mitchell, whose son Charlie Wilson was murdered by the Torrance Police Department in July, said that all the people at October 22nd gave her strength to speak about what the police did to her son. She told Revolution Newspaper, .I don.t know what Charlie was doing out there, but the neighbors called the police. He was with a friend and they hid in a shed from the police. They sent out the dogs to find him. His girlfriend called him to give himself up. All he had was a cell phone. When they found them they shot that shed up, they tore it up [with bullets.] Charlie was shot from the back . . . The other young man [Shaun McCoy] was shot so much and his back was tore up so bad that they couldn.t fix him up [for the wake], the embalming fluid couldn.t stay in. . . They killed them. They had dogs, they shot them from behind, they killed them with the first shot, but they shot them more. They killed them. Why did they shoot him in the first place? He only had a cell phone on him..

Some residents from the neighborhood around MacArthur Park also known as.Little Central America.came out despite what some residents called a week-long attempt by the police to intimidate people from participating. One woman said, .This is where we were brutally beaten and I.m here to say the same thing [we said on May 1].we.re human beings, we.re not criminals. Criminal is how the police kill defenseless people. Criminal is how immigration [ICE] is taking parents away from children and then left alone like they are worthless. We shouldn.t take this anymore. We can.t keep silent about this!.

NEW YORK CITY
Los Angeles New York City
Margarita Rosario, Cindy Sheehan, Lynne Stewart
Credit: IndyMedia, NYC

At a rally of about 150 in Marcus Garvey Park, in Harlem Marcus Jones.whose son Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6, was sent back to prison earlier this month.spoke to the crowd via a phone hook-up: .I just want to say thanks to everybody up there who are supporting Mychal. And I.ve been hearing about the racial profiling that the police have been doing up there. Jena is everywhere. I see that on a map of New York there.s no name Jena, New York.but I know it.s Jena up there somewhere..

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan told about how the Bush regime had stolen the life of her son Casey, a U.S. solider killed in the Iraq war, and said, .I.ve gotten in trouble with the mainstream media because I called George Bush .the No. 1 terrorist in the world.. People say, oh, no, he can.t be because he.s an elected leader of a state. Well, first of all, who elected him? Did any of you vote for him? No. He is an illegitimate leader of this brutal state..

Margarita Rosario, whose son and nephew were killed by the NYPD, said: .My son received 14 shots to his back while he was face down on the floor. And my nephew the same thing. They destroyed my life. I.m still standing and I will continue to stand. Let.s tell the community of Harlem today that we need to fight!.

As the multinational group of protesters took off on a march down 125th Street, 20 students from a charter school in the neighborhood, joined in, contributing their own chants on: .We stand with the Jena 6!. and .NYPD go to hell! We remember Sean Bell!. Members of the Harlem Revolution Club carried a colorful banner saying, .Humanity Needs Revolution. Stop Police Brutality. No More Nooses..

At a rally during the march, Travis Morales of the Revolutionary Communist Party said, .The immigration police, la migra, with their cowboy hats and shotguns, busting down the doors of homes, rounding up people and deporting them, terrorizing and tearing families apart, leaving children and babies stranded with their neighbors. Nooses hung from a whites-only tree in Jena, Louisiana, on a Black professor.s door at Columbia University, outside a Black cultural center at University of Maryland. A wave of nooses across this country, and 6 Black youth facing decades in prison for standing up to the nooses, the symbol of lynching of thousands of Black people.Don.t tell me we don.t need a revolution!.

At a rally at the end of the march, Sean Bell.s father, William Bell, said he was happy to see a movement against police brutality and that it was crucial for more youth to become involved.

CHICAGO
Chicago. Credit: Li Onesto, Revolution

In Chicago, family members rallied with signs and posters and t-shirts honoring loved ones murdered by police: Meliton Recendez, 15, shot going out for a juice. Johnny Goodwin, 21, shot in the back. Lester "Roni" Spruill, 43, beaten and found dead in a jail cell. Steve Womack, 22, killed from a high-speed police chase. A young man spoke with a broken arm, spoke, explaining how the police shoved him out a window when they raided his home.

One man described how cops from the scandal-ridden "Special Operations Section" - known as "Shoot on Sight" put a bullet in his nephew's neck while the young man lay handcuffed on the ground. Deborah Thompson, who's brother Fred Hendersen was shot by a suburban cop point blank in the side of his head, told the crowd of 200 she would not let the killer of her son intimidate her. Mae Green, made a promise to her son Tony, who choked to death after being arrested by the police, .They will not give the police department a standing ovation for killing my son..

Ashunda Harris who's nephew Aaron Harrison was shot in the back as he ran away from the police, spoke clearly to the urgency of the situation: "If we don't make this movement and this revolution happen, it's going to continue and it's going to reach down to our grandchildren, and our grandchildren's children. We need to put an end to this..."

BAY AREA

Among the 150 people rallying and marching in Oakland were many family and friends of Gary King, Jr., the 20 year old youth who was murdered on September 20. Gary King was grabbed by the dreadlocks, brutalized tasered and shot in the back by officer Patrick Gonzales, who had mistaken King for someone else. Gonzeles, who has been responsible for shooting several other young Black men in the last few years, stood with his foot in Gary's back as he lay dying on the ground.
Stolen Lives Wall in Oakland. Credit: IndyMedia SF Bay Area

Other family members of people killed by police present included Alade Djehuti-Mes (whose father, Charles Vaughn, Sr. was murdered by police in Seaside); Danny Garcia (brother of Mark Garcia, who died after being sprayed repeatedly with pepper spray and beaten by San Francisco police); Rashida Grinnage (whose husband, Raphael Grinnage, a well known jazz musician, and son, Luke Grinnage were both shot and killed by Oakland police); Cinnamon, (whose son, Lorante Studesville, was shot and seriously wounded by the OPD earlier this year); Frank Rosenberg (whose son Richard Rosenberg was shot and killed in front of his house); Meesha Irazarry, (mother of Idriss Stelley, a 23-year-old African American student killed by SFPD at the SF Sony Metreon Theatre in San Francisco in 2001); and Marylon Boyd (mother of Cameron Boyd killed by SFPD).

AROUND THE COUNTRY.
Atlanta. Credit:Special to Revolution

The October 22nd protest in Atlanta got significant coverage in the mainstream and alternative media. In an article titled, .'We All Live In Jena' Say Marchers Protesting Dekalb Shootings,. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that protesters .wearing black T-shirts proclaiming .We All Live In Jena. marched on Memorial Drive Monday to call attention to shootings by DeKalb County police and other cases of what they regard as injustice. One theme of the protest was the .criminalization of a generation.. As demonstrators chanted .What do we want? Justice!. in front of the county jail, prisoners could be seen waving white T-shirts inside in an apparent show of support.. Iffat Muhammad, who has organized protests over police shootings since her brother was shot and killed by police said, "This is a day of remembrance and a day of acknowledgment that brutality will not be tolerated."
Los Angeles
Fresno. Credit: Mike Rhodes

Among those rallying on October 22nd in Fresno, CA was the family of Everardo Toreres. Everardo had his life stolen on the night of October 27, 2002. He was arrested, handcuffed, and put into the back of a Madera, CA police car. A short time later, police officer Marcy Noriega came over to the car that Torres was in, pulled her service revolver and shot him to death. Noriega says she thought she was using her Taser gun. Torres.s family says Everardo was murdered by the police and they want justice.

Many protesters in Detroitwere family and friends of Jevon Royall, a young man killed in July on the 40th Anniversary of the Detroit Rebellion, blocks from where the rebellion started over police brutality, and they described how he was killed by police when he stepped outside of a family celebration. People marched to the site where Jevon was killed and held a Stolen Lives/Memorial service, with participants giving testimonials remembering and honoring Jevon and reading the names and stories of other victims of police brutality and murder.

In Santa Rosa, CA, organizers told Revolution that several hundred people were part of a rally and march. The march went through Roseland, a poor and mainly Latino community, where police have been setting up DUI checkpoints -- not set up late in the evening when people might be leaving bars -- but at rush hour when people are returning home from work. People in the community suspect that the roadblocks are aimed instead at immigrant workers without papers. Ben, an organizer with Copwatch in Santa Rosa, told Revolution that as the march went through Roseland, .There was an incredible response. People were honking their horns and raising their fists. People pulled over on the spot and parked their cars and joined the march.. Over the past year nine people have been killed in Sonoma County by local police and sheriffs, and in a recent nine-week period, local police shot and killed five. At a rally after the march, Ann Gray Byrd, chairwoman of the Sonoma County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "The families of those shot down in our communities have not been heard."
Los Angeles
Dorothy Chappell, calls out the cops
who killed her 15 year old grandson
Credit: Donald Black Jr

In Cleveland, Dorothy Chappell, whose grandson, Brandon Mc Cloud was murdered by Cleveland cops, September 1, 2005, called out the cops who killed her 15 year old grandson at the 4th district police station where the October 22nd protest was held.

In Seattle, family members of people killed by the police joined activists and proletarians of all nationalities- many with experiences of being brutalized or harassed by police to march through Seattle.s Pike Place market. All the way, people chanted .Hey cops, whaddya say, how many kids did you kill today?. A Seattle cop had just shot a 13 year old kid in the leg the week before.
Los Angeles
Minneapolis.
Credit: Communities United Against Police Brutality

A volunteer at Communities United Against Police Brutality in Minneapolis told Revolution that an October 22nd protest was held outside the Minneapolis Juvenile .Justice. Center in solidarity with the Jena Six, and because the police .are targeting and criminalizing the children.. Parents and youth coming out of the Juvenile Detention Center stopped and joined the rally and spoke out.

Activists in Minnesota have worked to document 85 deaths at the hands of police over the past ten years. Among them are several Native Americans: Franklin J. Brown, a 21-year-old American Indian man, was killed May 15, 2005 in his home on the White Earth reservation when police entered to conduct a search. He was shot 17 times. Some of the shots went through a closed door. He was unarmed. David Croud, an American Indian, was slammed into a stone wall and otherwise abused as he was arrested by six Duluth police officers on October 12, 2005. He slipped into a coma and never recovered. He was 29 years old. Benjamin DeCoteau, a Native American, was killed on January 22, 2005. He was unarmed when he was shot by officer Mark Beaupre under suspicious circumstances. He was 21 years old at the time of his death. On November 6, 1994, Richard LeGarde, an Anishinabe rights activist, was illegally arrested and then driven home to by a deputy, who was the last person to see him alive.

ARREST CHENEY - NOW - YES!

2009-06-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

CIA director Leon Panetta told the New Yorker:

When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.

News commentator Ed Schultz said today that Cheney is wishing for a terrorist attack on the U.S.

What should we make of all this?

Well, everyone knows that Cheney is ruthless:

Cheney is the guy who pushed for torture, pressured the Justice Department lawyers to write memos saying torture was legal, and made the pitch to Congress justifying torture. The former director of the CIA accused Cheney of overseeing American torture policies

Cheney is also the guy who:

Helped found the Project for a New American Century, which called for a new American empire well before 9/11, and lamented that, without a "catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor", transformation of America into an empire would be very slow.

In the 70's -- Cheney was instrumental in generating fake intelligence exaggerating the Soviet threat in order to undermine coexistence between the U.S. and Soviet Union, which conveniently justified huge amounts of cold war spending. See also this article.
30 years later, Cheney was largely responsible for generating fake intelligence about Iraq in order to justify the war. And, according to former British Defense Secretary, Cheney has called the shots in the failed Iraq war.

According to former high-level intelligence officer Melvin Goodman, Cheney orchestrated phony intelligence for the Congress in order to get an endorsement for covert arms shipments to anti-government forces in Angola?

Cheney has been perhaps the leading advocate for strengthening the powers of the White House to the point of monarchy for at least 20 years?

Cheney was involved in debates concerning illegal wiretaps 30 years ago?
Cheney was probably responsible for outing CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh says that the military ran an "Executive Assassination Ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to Cheney.

Hersh also says that Cheney is the main guy helping to fund groups which the U.S. claims are terrorists (see confirming articles here and here)

Blast from the Past

Okay, Cheney is a bad apple. But that's not all.

Remember that Cheney falsely claimed that there was a link between 9/11 and Iraq, but has recently admitted there was never any evidence to back up such a claim.

Remember also that the torture program which Cheney created was specifically aimed at producing false confessions in an attempt to link Iraq and 9/11.

A well-known writer said of Dick Cheney:

For his entire career, he sought untrammeled power. The Bush presidency and 9/11 finally gave it to him . . . .

Indeed, as I've previously written:

The Afghanistan war was planned before 9/11.

The decision to launch the Iraq war was made before 9/11.

The Patriot Act was written before 9/11.

The government's spying on Americans began before 9/11 (confirmed here and here).

The neocons who now run the U.S. government lamented, before 9/11, that they could not institute their plans for global domination without a "new Pearl Harbor".

So Cheney had a lot of motivation to "accidentally" let 9/11 happen.

Cheney also knew 9/11 was going to happen. The government knew that terrorists could use planes as weapons -- and had even run its own drills of planes being used as weapons against the World Trade Center and other U.S. high-profile buildings, using REAL airplanes -- all before 9/11. Indeed, the government heard the 9/11 plans from the hijackers' own mouths before 9/11.

Indeed, Cheney was in charge of all counter-terrorism exercises, activities and responses on 9/11 (see this Department of State announcement; this CNN article; and this essay). So he was in a perfect position to "accidentally" let it happen.

He Only Had to Wait a Couple of Seconds

Before you say "that's a crazy conspiracy theory", please note that Cheney would have only had to delay normal military response a couple of seconds to let the 9/11 attacks succeed.

Specifically, the Secretary of Transportation testified to the 9/11 Commission:

"During the time that the airplane was coming into the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President … the plane is 50 miles out…the plane is 30 miles out….and when it got down to the plane is 10 miles out, the young man also said to the vice president “do the orders still stand?” And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said “Of course the orders still stand, have you heard anything to the contrary!?"

(this testimony is confirmed here and here. See also this comment by the retired high-level CIA analyst mentioned above).

A retired 27-year CIA analyst who prepared and presented Presidential Daily Briefs and served as a high-level analyst for several presidents stated that the Pentagon is a heavily-defended building, with defensive weapons on the roof. This matches a Pentagon employee’s statement that she was told "you are now standing in one of the most secure building in all of the United States".

And a former air traffic controller, who knows the flight corridor which the two planes which hit the Twin Towers flew "like the back of my hand", and who handled two actual hijackings, says that that planes can be tracked on radar even when their transponders are turned off, and that Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon tracked three of the four flights from the point of their hijacking to hitting their targets (also, listen to this interview).

Moreover, this diagram shows that the hijacked planes flew over numerous military bases on 9/11 before crashing. See also this essay regarding the stand down of the military; and see this war game proposal created before 9/11 revolving around Bin Laden and including "live-fly exercises" involving real planes, later confirmed by this official Department of Defense website. And remember that, according to CBS news, radar shows Flight 77 did a downward spiral, turning almost a complete circle and dropping the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes.

All Cheney had to do was delay normal defensive procedures a couple of seconds to let the plane slam into the Pentagon. It was obvious by that time that the 9/11 attacks were not random instances of "pilot error". Cheney - in charge of counter-terrorism on 9/11 - simply had to watch the plane approach from many miles away and yell at everyone that “the orders still stand” to let the attacks succeed.

By just delaying for a few seconds, Cheney's long-dreamed Iraq and Afghanistan wars, imperial ambitions as described by the Project for a New American Century, and increase of powers domestically would all be justified.

Given Cheney's masterminding of a program torture to produce false information about 9/11, fake intelligence regarding wmds to justify the Iraq war, centralization of power in the executive branch, assassinations and other hanky panky, and the rest of Cheney's biography, do you really think he couldn't delay things a couple of seconds to reach all of this goals?

Postscript: The 9/11 Commissioners themselves now doubt the "official" 9/11 story:

The Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission (John Farmer) - who led the 9/11 staff's inquiry - said "At some level of the government, at some point in time...there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened". He also said "I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described .... The tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years.... This is not spin. This is not true."

The Commission's co-chairs said that the CIA (and likely the White House) "obstructed our investigation"

Indeed, they said that the 9/11 Commissioners knew that military officials misrepresented the facts to the Commission, and the Commission considered recommending criminal charges for such false statements (free subscription required)

9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey said that "There are ample reasons to suspect that there may be some alternative to what we outlined in our version . . . We didn't have access . . . ."

9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer said "We were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were getting"

9/11 Commissioner Max Cleland resigned from the Commission, stating: "It is a national scandal"; "This investigation is now compromised"; and "One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9-11 issue is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up"

Governor Bush told Houston Journalist: If Elected. "I'm Going to Invade Iraq"

2009-06-08T00:51:00.001-07:00

by Sherwood Ross

Global Research, June 2, 2009

Two years before the 9/11 attacks on America, George W. Bush told a Houston journalist if elected president, .I.m going to invade Iraq..

Bush made the comments about starting an aggressive war to veteran Houston Chronicle reporter Mickey Herskowitz, then working with Bush on his book .A Charge To Keep,. later brought out by publisher William Morrow.

This disclosure was uncovered by Russ Baker, an award-winning investigative reporter when he interviewed Herskowitz for his own book, .Family of Secrets. (Bloomsbury Press) about the Bush dynasty. However, Baker says, when he approached The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times with the potentially devastating story to President Bush prior to the 2004 presidential election, they declined to publish it.

==========================================

Obama's speech in Egypt warns not to challenge official 9/11 story

President Obama's speech in Egypt echoes Bush's speech to the UN, in its warning not to challenge the 9/11 story.

Obama's remarks:

"But let us be clear: Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with," he said.

Bush's remarks:

"We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th, malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists themselves, away from the guilty. To inflame ethnic hatred is to advance the cause of terror."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WORLDWIDE PETITION FOR A NEW INDEPENDENT 9/11 INVESTIGATION

Worldwide 9/11 Petition
Posted on May 12, 2009 by JF Ranger
Petition started on May 12th, 2009

http://world911truth.org/worldwide-911-petition/

WORLDWIDE PETITION FOR A NEW INDEPENDENT 9/11 INVESTIGATION

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND
OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT:

On Behalf of the People of the United States of America, the undersigned people of the world hereby petition for, and demand, a truly independent and public investigation with subpoena power in order to uncover the full truth surrounding the events of 9/11/01 - specifically the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers and Building 7.

We believe there is sufficient doubt about the official story and therefore the 9/11 investigation must be re-opened and must include a full inquiry into the possible use of explosives that might have been the actual cause of the destruction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers and Building 7.

Given the importance of the events of 9/11/01 and it's consequences, we believe it is our duty, as citizens of the world, to uncover the truth about this event and ensure that justice will be made.

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Obama in Cairo: A New Face for Imperialism By Patrick Martin June 05, 2009

Obama in Cairo: A New Face for Imperialism

By Patrick Martin

June 05, 2009 "WSW" -- -The speech delivered by US President Barack Obama in Cairo yesterday was riddled with contradictions. He declared his opposition to the .killing of innocent men, women, and children,. but defended the ongoing US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the US proxy war in Pakistan, while remaining silent on the most recent Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. These wars have killed at least one million Iraqis and tens of thousands in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/pers-j05.shtml

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Dick Uncut: "Daily Show" Calls Out Cheney For Blaming 9/11 On Richard Clarke (VIDEO)

At a recent appearance at the National Press Club, Dick Cheney blamed Richard Clarke for leaving the nation vulnerable to attack ahead of 9/11 saying, "He obviously missed it." Cheney was referring to the threat from al Qaeda which Clarke had emphatically warned the administration about several times before the fall of 2001.

Jon Stewart was not pleased with Dick Cheney for these accusations, nor the members of the National Press Club who failed to challenge him about the assertion. In a segment called "Dick Uncut," Stewart used dark humor to take both the former Vice President and the media to task for the events leading up to 9/11 through the waterboarding of detainees. It simultaneously makes you laugh and want to punch a whole through the wall.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=228988&title=dick-uncut

Tamil atrocity like Srebrenica, Darfur

2009-05-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

From The Times

May 29, 2009

Slaughter in Sri Lanka

Evidence gathered by The Times has revealed that at least 20,000 Tamils were killed on the beach by shelling as the army closed in on the Tigers

“Deeply disappointing” was how a human rights group yesterday described the vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council hailing the victory of the Sri Lankan Government. This is a breathtaking understatement. It was an utter disgrace. The 47-member body, set up in 2006 to replace the previous corrupt and ineffectual UN Commission on Human Rights, has abjectly failed one of its first and most important tests.

It was asked by its European members to investigate widespread reports of atrocities and war crimes committed by both government troops and the Tamil Tigers in the final weeks of the conflict. The council chose instead to debate a one-sided, mendacious and self-serving motion put forward by the Sri Lankans. This welcomed the “liberation” of tens of thousands of the island's citizens, condemned the defeated Tigers, made no mention of the shelling of civilians and kept silent on the desperate need to allow the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups into the camps where some 270,000 Tamil civilians have been interned.

Support for this deeply flawed resolution came from the usual suspects - China, Russia, India, Pakistan and a clutch of Asian and Islamic nations determined to prevent the council ever investigating human rights violations in their own or any country.

To her credit, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, insisted that there needed still to be an inquiry into “very serious abuses”. Those abuses, it now emerges, are far, far worse than the outside world imagined. The UN estimated that 7,000 people were killed in the first four months of this year; the figure now appears to be at least 20,000. Thousands of these victims died as a result of the shelling by the Sri Lankan Army of the strip of coastline where the final remnants of Tiger resistance were trapped, along with at least 100,000 civilians

Photographs taken by The Times present clear evidence of an atrocity that comes close to matching Srebrenica, Darfur and other massacres of civilians. In the sandy so-called no-fire zone where the trapped Tamil civilians were told to go to escape the brutal army bombardment, there are hundreds of fresh graves as well as craters and debris where tents once stood. This was no safe zone. This was where terrified civilians buried their dead as the shells landed - after the Government had declared an end to the use of heavy weapons on April 27.

Some civilians were probably killed by the Tigers, whose brutality and ruthlessness over the past 28 years has fully justified their depiction as terrorists. Finding out what happened, however, is impossible: the army has barred entry to all outsiders. Food is short, sanitation appalling; wounded and traumatised civilians are in desperate need of help. That much is clear from those who have been able to escape. More sinister reports are now circulating of systematic “disappearances”, of families separ- ated and young men taken away. But until the Government allows in aid workers, the presumption must be that it wants nothing to be heard or seen of what is going on.

This tactic was used in the final push to beat the Tigers. The army wanted no witness to the onslaught, no journalists to alert the world to human rights violations, no photographers to record the suffering. Sri Lanka, now basking in its victory, may set the pattern for other nations battling against insurgencies. For them, victory is all that matters. Most of Sri Lanka may rejoice at the end of a bloody civil war. But the UN has no right to collude in suppressing the appalling evidence of the cost. The truth must be told.

Mangled bodies, torn limbs litter Safe Zone - medical official

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 2009, 22:29 GMT]
"Death in most brutal form has become common within the Safety Zone. The area littered with mangled bodies, torn limbs, and blood soaked soil appears more horrific than what one finds inside a butchers shop," a lady medical staff working out of a school-building converted into the temporary primary surgical care centre at Puthumaaththa'lan, told TamilNet Sunday. She also pointed out that a great number of small children have died in the last few days because of the SLA's ceaseless shelling and firing.

The number of people coming to the hospital with bullet injuries has dramatically increased in the past few days, she said, and noted that a similar increase has also occured of civilians who are admitted with shrapnel and shell injuries.

Voice: Medical staff talking to TamilNet

Direct Link (mp3)

Even as the Tamil civilians in the safe zone go about their routine daily activities, they are hit by bullets. By the time they are brought to the hospital, they die, she observed.

The lady medical staff at the makeshift hospital pointed out that the casualties were highest on Sunday morning as continuous shelling on the roads near the hospital had prevented the injured from being taken to the hospital sooner.

"We were directed to drive to the injury site and bring the wounded to the hospital in our vehicles, but we simply couldn't leave because of the continuous shelling," she said and added that as a result of the delay several children had succumbed to their injuries.

In one incident, children of two families survived, but their parents were killed by shells, the medical staffer said.

The injured are laid out on tarpaulin sheets and given medication that cannot often save them. "We watch them die in great pain," she said.

Sri Lanka: Bloodbath begins, nearly 1000 Tamils killed as shelling intensifies

Tamil National, April 20: Sri Lanka army on full fire is pounding the safe zone with heavy weapons from today early morning. 985 were killed and another 1300 or more were injured in the onslaught. The severely wounded are expected to succumb to injuries due to no medical assistance, reports Tamil National Reporter today at 12:00 noon.
Sri Lanka Army’s move to take on safe zone has created catastrophe inside safe zone. The massive onslaught continues and Sri Lanka Army is using the people got trapped in Pokkanai as human shields. More bloodshed expected, if international community does not get in to action immediately.

Tamil National Reporter said in addition to the raining of shells, grenades rockets and cluster bombs, the news on army using civilians as human shields have created a havoc among civilians. The hospital also was hit and panics everywhere. The reporter said even at the last moment of life, people only have hope on Tamil Diaspora.
Meanwhile, the government side report said that around 5,000 civilians fell into the hands of the SLA and a suicide bomber among fleeing civilians set off a blast that killed at least 17 people. It is to be reminded, in a previous incident many people who moved in to government controlled area were shot and killed and a similar news was spread.
Where is Nambiar? is a question raised by Tamil Diaspora. People power of the Tamil Diaspora is the only thing that can bring an end to the bloodbath.

Source: Tamil National

Sri Lanka

Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), formerly ASIET (Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor), is a network of solidarity activists campaigning for democratic rights, self-determination and other justice struggles in the Asia Pacific region.
ASAP's People's Power Fighting Fund runs appeals for material support for various democratic struggles in the region. To donate to this fund and to help maintain this website, you can deposit directly into the Commonwealth Bank Australia BSB 062026 Account number 1006 0743. Thank-you. Your help is appreciated.

Italy state terror - revisionism

2009-05-27T22:11:00.001-07:00

Patriotism? Awful murderer...

Fascism is alive and well in Italy. OPERATION GLADIO (state false flag terror) is lauded.

www.ilpopolo-online.info/index.php?velina=222

Il Popolo d'Italia (Italian for "The People of Italy"), was an Italian newspaper founded by Benito Mussolini on November 15, 1914 Il Popolo d'Italia ran until July 24, 1943 and became the foundation for the Fascist movement in Italy after World War I. The paper, advocating militarism and irredentism, was subsidized by the French and industrialists on the pretext of influencing Italy to join the Entente Powers.
The newspaper was refounded in 1998 by Giuseppe Martorana, founder of the Nuovo Ordine Nazionale, and is published in Milan.

A MEMORY OF COLONEL ALDO Specogna

Giuseppe Capitanio - Regional Secretary of DC Tuscany and National Director of the Christian Democrats -
giuseppe.capitanio@dconline.info *****

I would like to recall the figure of Colonel Aldo deli Alpini Specogna MAVM, original and authentic figure of Man, Alpine, Warrior, Master and
Servant of the state. Beyond that was a Soldier Combattente throughout his life always faithful to his ideal of love patriotism.
Until 8 September 1943 he served in 8 ° Alpine regiment, then put in like all freedoms, made contact with the prospective partisan. True to his ideals in defense of freedom of the earth and the Italian Friuli taken part in the 7th Brigade Osoppo, fighting both the German army in retreat, and the attempts of the Communists and Slavs and Italian for those operating territories were annexed to Yugoslavia .
In this regard it should be noted that the contrasts between the so-called white training partisan named Osoppo clashed harshly with the partisan communist. For all that is remembered that a Porzus, with the aggravating circumstance of deception, a group of partisans garibaldini belonging to the GAP (Partisan Action Group) employees, even militarily by PCI, the partisans of the murdered Osoppo and ripped from the yard of the Italian tricolor.
The Soviet thrust dell'egemonia come up on the outskirts of Trieste, is a threat to the Italian State in particular because of the aspirations of Titus.
In this climate the Western democracies that are part of the Atlantic Pact ripen the need for a new unit of defense and then also in Italy, life takes a special military called Stay Behind more commonly known as "Gladio". The Col. Alp. Aldo Specogna is called by the General Staff of Defense aricoprire organizer of the task-manager of the Northeast region of the nascent structure Stay Behind. The silent sacrifice of Col. Specogna and many other men like him have helped to assure our country a rightful place among the nations belonging to the free world, who were allied to stem the overwhelming thrust of expansion of the countries belonging to the Warsaw Pact.
At this point it should be remembered that the "Gladio" was a secret organization but not unlawful, was employed by the Ministry of Defense and incorporated in the NATO context. Over 90 years has been, like other organisms, the subject of an unfair judicial obstinacy, whose commanders were acquitted in 2001 of all their crimes prosecuted by the Court of Assizes of Rome.
The example of life given by Col. Specogna should serve as a warning for the future, to continue to foster a love for the homeland, for Freedom and Democracy.

google GLADIO and inform yourself... 911, L77, Bali, Madrid ... BOLOGNA.

Black operation terrorism, synthetic terrorism, the DEEP STATE exists!!
In the USA this medieval culture is so prevalent -- there is bi money in torture!!
http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2009/05/cia-torture-usa-war-crimes.html
http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2009/02/usa-blackmailing-britain-on-torture.html

Follow the money, cui bono. CIA/DIA/ONI Mossad MI6 are the perpetrators.
There is no oversight, no accountability for these grave crimes.
http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2009/04/911-inside-job-great-entertainment.html

Take heart. Right now in Turkey the brave government is trying to prosecute the fascists.
http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2009/05/murders-stopped-at-once-ergenecon.html

UN RICORDO DEL COLONNELLO ALDO SPECOGNA

di Giuseppe Capitanio . Segretario regionale della D.C. Toscana e Consigliere nazionale della Democrazia Cristiana - giuseppe.capitanio @dconline.info *****

Mi piacerebbe poter ricordare la figura del Colonnello deli Alpini Aldo Specogna M.A.V.M., esemplare ed autentica figura di Uomo, Alpino, Combattente, Comandante e
Servitore dello Stato. Oltre che Soldato fu un Combattente per tutto l'arco della sua vita sempre fedele al suo ideale di amore patrio.
Fino all'8 settembre 1943 prestò servizio nell'8° reggimento alpini, successivamente messo come tutti in libertà, prese contatti con le costituende formazioni partigiane. Fedele ai suoi ideali in difesa della libertà e dell'italianità della terra friulana prese parte alla 7° brigata Osoppo, combattendo sia l'esercito tedesco in ritirata, sia i tentativi dei comunisti sia slavi che italiani che operavano affinchè quei territori fossero annessi alla Jugoslavia.
A tal proposito è opportuno ricordare che i contrasti tra la formazione partigiana cosidetta bianca denominata Osoppo si scontrò duramente con le formazioni partigiane comuniste. Per tutto vale ricordare che a Porzus, con l'aggravante dell'inganno, un gruppo di partigiani garibaldini appartenenti ai G.A.P. (Gruppi di Azione Partigiana) dipendenti, anche militarmente dal P.C.I., trucidarono i partigiani della Osoppo e strapparono dal pennone della base il tricolore italiano.
La spinta dell'egemonia sovietica giunta sino alle porte di Trieste, costituisce una minaccia per l'intero Stato Italiano in particolare a causa delle aspirazioni di Tito.
In questo clima le democrazie occidentali facenti parte del Patto Atlantico maturano la necessità di costituire una nuova unità di difesa e quindi anche in Italia, prende vita una struttura militare speciale denominata Stay Behind più comunemente nota come "Gladio". Il Col. Alp. Aldo Specogna viene chiamato dallo Stato Maggiore della Difesa aricoprire l'incarico di organizzatore-responsabile della regione Nord-Est della nascente struttura Stay Behind. Il silenzioso sacrificio del Col. Specogna e di numerosi altri uomini come lui hanno contribuito ad assicurare al nostro Paese un giusto posto tra quelle nazioni appartenenti al mondo libero, che si erano alleate per arginare la soverchiante spinta espansionistica dei paesi appartenenti al patto di Varsavia.
A questo punto è bene ricordare che la "Gladio" era una organizzazione segreta ma non illegittima, era alle dipendenze del Ministero della Difesa ed inglobata nel contesto NATO. Negli anni 90 è stata, come altri organismi, oggetto di un ingiusto accanimento giudiziario; i cui comandanti sono stati assolti nel 2001 da tutti i reati loro ascritti dalla Corte di Assise di Roma.
L'esempio di vita dato dal Col. Specogna deve servire da monito per il futuro, per continuare ad alimentare l'amore per la Patria, per la Libertà e per la Democrazia.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strage_di_Bologna

La strage di Bologna è uno degli atti terroristici più gravi avvenuti in Italia nel secondo dopoguerra, verificatosi sabato 2 agosto 1980.

Alle 10.25, nella sala d'aspetto di 2° Classe della Stazione di Bologna Centrale,[1] un ordigno a tempo, contenuto in una valigia abbandonata, esplode uccidendo ottantacinque persone e ferendone oltre duecento.

Per Bologna e per l'Italia è stata una drammatica presa di coscienza della recrudescenza del terrorismo.

Il terrorismo nero

Non appena apparvero più chiare le dinamiche e fu palese una matrice terrorista, attribuirono la responsabilità della strage al terrorismo nero.

Già il 26 agosto dello stesso anno la Procura della Repubblica di Bologna emise ventotto ordini di cattura nei confronti di militanti di estrema destra dei Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari: Roberto Fiore e Massimo Morsello (futuri fondatori di Forza Nuova), Gabriele Adinolfi, Francesca Mambro, Elio Giallombardo, Amedeo De Francisci, Massimiliano Fachini, Roberto Rinani, Giuseppe Valerio Fioravanti, Claudio Mutti, Mario Corsi, Paolo Pizzonia, Ulderico Sica, Francesco Bianco, Alessanro Pucci, Marcello Iannilli, Paolo Signorelli, PierLuigi Scarano, Francesco Furlotti, Aldo Semerari, Guido Zappavigna, GianLuigi Napoli, Fabio De Felice, Maurizio Neri. Vengono subito interrogati a Ferrara, Roma, Padova e Parma. Tutti saranno scarcerati nel 1981.

Depistaggi

Vi furono svariati episodi di depistaggio, dei quali il più grave è quello ordito da parte di alcuni vertici dei servizi segreti del SISMI, tra i quali Pietro Musumeci e Giuseppe Belmonte. Costoro fecero porre in un treno, a Bologna, da un sottufficiale dei carabinieri, una valigia piena di esplosivo, dello stesso tipo che fece esplodere la stazione, contenente oggetti personali di due estremisti di destra, un francese e un tedesco. Musumeci produsse anche un dossier fasullo, denominato "Terrore sui treni", in cui riportava gli intenti stragisti dei due terroristi internazionali, in relazione con altri esponenti dell'eversione neofascista. Tutti comunque legati allo spontaneismo armato, senza legami politici, quindi autori e allo stesso tempo mandanti della strage. Il tutto organizzato per far terminare così le indagini.

Ripensamenti e disinformazione

Francesco Cossiga, il 15 marzo 1991, al tempo della sua presidenza della Repubblica, affermò di essersi sbagliato a definire "fascista" la strage alla stazione di Bologna e di essere stato mal indicato dai servizi segreti. Attorno a questa strage, come era già avvenuto per la Strage di piazza Fontana nel 1969, si sviluppò tutto un cumulo di affermazioni, controaffermazioni, piste vere e false, tipiche di altri tragici avvenimenti della cosiddetta strategia della tensione.

Le condanne

Lentamente e con fatica, attraverso una complicata e discussa vicenda politica e giudiziaria, e grazie alla spinta civile dell'Associazione tra i familiari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980 si giunse ad una sentenza definitiva di Cassazione il 23 novembre 1995: vennero condannati all'ergastolo, quali esecutori dell'attentato, i neofascisti dei NAR Giuseppe Valerio Fioravanti e Francesca Mambro, che si sono sempre dichiarati innocenti, mentre l'ex capo della P2 Licio Gelli, l'ex agente del SISMI Francesco Pazienza e gli ufficiali del servizio segreto militare Pietro Musumeci e Giuseppe Belmonte vennero condannati per il depistaggio delle indagini.

Il 9 giugno 2000 la Corte d'Assise di Bologna emise nuove condanne per depistaggio: nove anni di reclusione per Massimo Carminati, estremista di destra, e quattro anni e mezzo per Federigo Mannucci Benincasa, ex direttore del SISMI di Firenze, e Ivano Bongiovanni, delinquente comune legato alla destra extraparlamentare. Ultimo imputato per la strage è Luigi Ciavardini, con condanna a 30 anni confermata nel 2007. Anche lui continua a dichiararsi innocente.

Eventuali mandanti della strage non sono mai stati scoperti.

Ipotesi alternative

A causa del protrarsi negli anni delle vicende giudiziarie e dei numerosi comprovati depistaggi, intorno ai veri esecutori e ai mandanti dell'attentato si sono sempre sviluppate numerose ipotesi e strumentalizzazioni politiche divergenti dai fatti processuali che hanno portato alle condanne definitive dei presunti esecutori materiali della strage.

* Stando quanto riportato dai media nel 2004 e ripreso nel 2007 [3], Francesco Cossiga, in una lettera indirizzata a Enzo Fragalà, capogruppo di Alleanza Nazionale nella commissione Mitrokhin, ipotizza un coinvolgimento palestinese (a mano del Fronte Popolare per la Liberazione della Palestina e del gruppo Separat di Iliz Ramirez Sanchez, noto come "comandante Carlos") dietro l'attentato.[4] Inoltre, nel 2008 Cossiga ha rilasciato un'intervista al Corriere della Sera, in cui ribadiva la sua convinzione secondo cui la strage non sia da imputarsi al terrorismo nero, ma ad un "incidente" di gruppi della resistenza palestinese operanti in Italia. Si dichiara oltresì convinto dell'innocenza di Francesca Mambro e Giuseppe Valerio Fioravanti.[5]

* Dalla sua cella, a Parigi, il terrorista rosso Ilic Ramirez Sanchez afferma che «la commissione Mitrokhin cerca di falsificare la storia» e che «a Bologna a colpire furono CIA e Mossad», con l'intento di punire e ammonire l'Italia per i suoi rapporti di fiducia reciproca con l'OLP, che si era segretamente impegnato a non colpire l'Italia in cambio di una certa protezione.[6]

* Nel maggio 2007 il figlio di Massimo Sparti (malvivente legato alla banda della Magliana e principale accusatore di Fioravanti) dichiara «mio padre nella storia del processo di Bologna ha sempre mentito», aprendo nuovi spiragli ed ipotesi.[7]

* In un allegato uscito in fascicoli del settimanale di destra L'Italia Settimanale nel corso del 1994 intitolato Storia della prima Repubblica viene fornita una particolare ipotesi sulla strage. Prima di tutto viene accomunata alla strage di Ustica (ne viene definita letteralmente il "bis"); poi viene paragonata al caso di Enrico Mattei e al Caso Moro. Il testo prosegue con

« L'Italia dalla nascita della prima Repubblica è stata, come tutti sanno, un paese a sovranità limitata (...) ora, nel momento in cui, per questioni contingenti (...) ha fatto - raramente - scelte che si sono rivelate in contrasto con le alleanze di cui vi dicevo, ha compiuto, detto in termini politico-mafioso-diplomatici, uno "sgarro". E come nella mafia quando un picciotto sbaglia finisce in qualche pilone di cemento o viene privato di qualche parente (in gergo si chiama "vendetta trasversale"). Così è fra gli Stati: quando qualche paese sbaglia, non gli si dichiara guerra; ma gli si manda un "avvertimento", sotto forma di bomba, che esplode in una piazza, su di un treno, su una nave, ecc ecc »

Assolutamente senza contestare le sentenze giudiziarie che hanno riconosciuto gli esecutori materiali, questo testo vuole indicare i mandanti. Non è specificato null'altro in particolare, ma in quel periodo l' unico "sgarro" imputabile all'Italia fu il mancato boicottaggio delle Olimpiadi di Mosca, che riempirono il periodo trascorso tra la strage di Ustica e la bomba alla stazione di Bologna.

the murders stopped at once .. ERGENECON

2009-05-26T02:07:00.001-07:00

Orhan Kemal Cengiz: Trying coup plotters is a revolution

Orhan Kemal Cengiz, the chairman of the Human Rights Agenda Association and a jurist-writer, says the country has come a long way since the time when naming schools and streets after Kenan Evren -- the leader of the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d'état -- and celebrating the military coup of May 27, 1960 like a festival were common.

"There are still some people who consider the May 27 coup as a modernist revolution against reactionaryism. In fact, trying coup plotters is a revolution in a country like ours," he said.

So after three coups and two postmodern coups, it seems that Turkey has finally managed to bring coup plotters to court for the first time in its history.

The diaries that allegedly belong to former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek, in which he is said to have kept notes between 2004 and 2006 about plans for two coups code-named Ay..... (Moonlight) and Sar.k.z (Blond Girl), have recently been incorporated into the ongoing Ergenekon trial -- a trial against 142 suspects charged with plotting to overthrow the government -- according to Cengiz.

After two years and a series of operations, Turkey has finally sent three retired generals and the numerous civilians referred to in the Ay..... and Sar.k.z coup plans to trial. Even if the generals are released without being sentenced, this will be regarded as a turning point for Turkish democracy.

Ever since the 1960s, Turkey has been unable to take civilian initiatives against anti-democratic interventions -- until the launch of the Ergenekon investigation. As a result of the operations that began in February 2008 former Gendarmerie Commander retired Gen. .ener Eruygur and retired 1st Army Corps Commander Gen. Hur.it Tolon were arrested at a social facility owned by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for planning the coups code-named Ay..... and Sar.k.z.

The arrests were a great achievement for proponents of democracy in Turkey, says Cengiz, and he explains more about the process:

The second indictment of the Ergenekon case was made public. Let's interpret the picture anew in light of the latest information: What is Ergenekon, what is its objective, what has it done?

Ergenekon is an organization created by those who deem themselves superior to the law and all rules. The organization is the last of the inheritors of the conspiracy mindset bequeathed by the Byzantine and Ottoman empires and from there to the republic. Ergenekon is the last representative of the deep structure behind all the political assassinations and manipulations in Turkey.

What are the connections of this structure?

What we are holding in our hand is only one tentacle of the octopus. We are liquidating one branch of the Turkish Gladio. Those who play a key role in Ergenekon also played a central role in J.TEM, an illegal unit formed inside the gendarmerie. When you include J.TEM in the case, you also merge the Sauna and Atabeyler gangs, the Santoro, Dink and Malatya assassinations and many others into the case. You would also link assassinations by unknown assailants -- by prominent assailants -- and all the other assassinations to this network. If the investigation goes further, Hizbullah and the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) cooperation with Ergenekon will be exposed as well.

What has the second indictment added to the Ergenekon case, which was triggered by the seizure of 27 hand grenades in a shanty in Ümraniye and steered by the discovery of weapons depots, assassination plots and attempts to create chaos?

I don't base the case simply on the second indictment. Some recent developments are as important as the second indictment.

Which developments?

Uncovering the BOTA. [Turkish Pipeline Corporation] wells and placing the J.TEM colonel under arrest indicates that the Ergenekon case is heading for the east of the Euphrates, where it must be actually steered. This is crucial. The second indictment also brings the stages of a coup to light.
The coup plotters. picture was shot

That is, what we already knew has been documented.

We always knew that settings favorable for a coup were prepared. The second indictment shows us how it was to be done as in a recipe. We understand how the media instigated coups and how members of the press considered coups to be a means of prosperity.

Is it of prominent significance to the case?

It is of tremendous significance. It has already swept a curtain away. The details of nasty works that we smelled and heard became visible. There is no way back. We have finally discovered the truth. Society has woken up. If the case progresses and moves in the right direction and the perpetrators are duly punished, then it will pave the way for further developments.

What kind of developments?

The military guardianship system in Turkey would receive a deadly blow. A sense of justice would be restored; it would also lay the foundation for a democratic state that respects the rule of law.
It should not be reduced to just a coup plot

Some claim that the case should be demarcated; otherwise, the process will be hindered. What is the imminent threat, demarcation or extension of the case?

.amil Tayyar is a colleague who expended tremendous effort in the uncovering of Ergenekon; however, he advocates the demarcation of the case, which is extremely misleading. Have a glance at the Susurluk report, Kutlu Sava. made a crucial point in the report when he said, "Dealing with interconnected incidents and networks in separate court cases has made it impossible to understand what Susurluk actually is."

It is equally, even more, relevant to Ergenekon.

That's right, as long as you deal with the interconnected incidents and cases separately, you can neither understand what Ergenekon actually is nor can you fully liquidate this structure. Coup plots are significant; yet reducing the case to such coup plots would weaken it. By doing so, you would create more room for the insidious propaganda which claims that the case targets AK Party [Justice and Development Party] opponents. Let's keep in mind that Ergenekon is a gigantic organization, and it is at the center of many shadowy deeds in Turkey.

What is in the past, what will the future bring?

A document seized from one of the accused says "The Special Forces are the apple of Ergenekon's eye.. The Special Forces are the continuation, or inheritor, of the Special Warfare Department. Gen. Sabri Yirmibe.o.lu, one of the former heads of the department, once said that the Sept. 6-7 [pogrom] was a spectacular deed done by the Special Warfare Department. When you trace the ties, you would be appalled to see the extent to which Ergenekon goes.

What is the forward-looking face of Ergenekon?

It is confiscating Turkey's future, blocking the EU process, disconnecting Turkey from the world and setting up an authoritarian-fascist regime.

The indictment is centered on a coup. This is the first time that generals have been tried on coup charges.

It is sort of a revolution for Turkey. We named schools and streets after Kenan Evren. We celebrated May 27 like a festival. There are still some people who consider May 27 a modernist revolution against reactionaryism. In fact, judging coup plotters is a revolution in a country like ours.

The circumstances favorable for a coup are created by ensuring media support, creating favorable public opinion, deactivating politics, drawing attention to the dangers threatening the homeland and convincing the command echelon or bypassing it when the former cannot be achieved. Is this how they acted?

Weren't all the coups staged in that way? We caught the coup plotters red-handed for the first time. Their masks dropped for the first time. We saw their bare faces for the first time. If an army intends to stage coups when circumstances are ripe, some people both inside and outside that army will eventually create such circumstances.

Does the process consist of the liquidation of the history of coups and the deep state?

It is too early to call it the liquidation of the deep state. Ergenekon is centered on what we call a deep state structure. If all the cases connected to Ergenekon are merged, a glimpse of hope will emerge for fully purging the state of gangs.
They would have cracked down with an .iron fist'

What do the [coup] diaries tell you?

The diaries tell how deeply the Ergenekon mindset is rooted and how the system functions. It sheds light on why we have been living under military guardianship for so long.

I already knew of the Sar.k.z, Ay....., Yakamoz and Eldiven coup plots, and now the .Iron fist. has popped up.

I heard it for the first time, too. Coups are iron fists that crack down on this country. They seem to have named it correctly. If they had not been captured, they would have knocked out democracy with an iron fist.

Increasing numbers of people say they are convinced [that Ergenekon exists]. Has the Ergenekon case gone beyond the stage where it has been diluted?

It is tragicomic that we still debate whether or not it actually exists. A certain media group's incredible efforts to blur the issue and use subtle disinformation tactics led to this situation. It is shameful. However, despite these efforts, people can sort out what is what.

Why does the .stanbul Bar Association give explicit messages of support to Ergenekon members?

Unfortunately, it is not only the .stanbul Bar Association. The executive boards of some bar associations are now dominated by groups who call themselves the "neo-nationalists" (ulusalc.lar). They have actively rolled up their sleeves to act as the advocates of Ergenekon. Who knows, maybe it is extremely scary for some people to see that in a country where Ergenekon has collapsed everyone will have to duly fulfill their duties, that this country will enter the EU, etc.
It is stupidity to call what has been written a .crime of thought'

There are some people who elaborate on the thesis of "it is not an offense to think about a coup, but it is an offense to put it into action." Are these efforts aimed at legitimizing Ergenekon?

But we are not talking about a single man who just sat down and dreamed about a coup. The same guy goes and acts like the mentor of the coup plotters.

You are talking about the diaries of Mustafa Balbay.

Of course! If some call this a crime of thought, I doubt their intelligence and good will. And the others, in their own corner, act like coup provocateurs. Those who consider this to be freedom of expression are actually those who -- subconsciously -- do not see a coup as a crime. Otherwise, I believe everyone knows that .praising an offense and instigating an offense. in and of itself constitutes a crime. The Ergenekon case is a historic opportunity for the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK].

There is the impression that the TSK is protecting some retired generals. GATA [Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine] is a typical example. How will the civilian judiciary versus the military judiciary influence the Ergenekon case?

In Turkey, we have a military judiciary with tremendous jurisdiction. In other parts of the world, there is either no such thing as a military judiciary or even if there is, it is merely reserved for issues related exclusively to the military profession. Around us, there is this weird mentality which thinks that a coup attempt is a military offense.

In the .emdinli case, we saw what would happen if the issue is dealt with by the military judiciary. The accused, who were to be tried by the civilian courts for a crime with a sentence of up to of 30-40 years, were handed over to a military court and released the next day. If this is a fait accompli, this is a strong insult to society.

What is the position of the TSK towards the Ergenekon case?

Ambivalent. It seems as if it does not prevent detentions; but on the other hand, their manner regarding the "headquarter houses" issue is thought-provoking. [We now know that the] M.T [National Intelligence Organization] informed [them] in 2005, but military prosecutors did not take any action. The old days, when silence was golden, are now far behind. The Ergenekon case is imposing a brand new institutional culture on the army, a new model of structuring. The case, which is a pain in the neck for some, is actually presenting the military with an opportunity to get rid of the rotten eggs in the basket.

Instead of getting rid of the rotten eggs and saying the .era of coups is over,. why does the General Staff insist on saying .do not damage the reputation of the TSK.?

The military somehow was unable to engage in self-criticism. But this, in fact, inflicts significant damage on the military.
Opened up to civilians in 1999

Where is the place that Ergenekon took its first steps? Where is the epicenter?

Looking at the documents in the dossier, you will see the expression .Ergenekon, established under the TSK.. Being a military structure until then, Ergenekon was opened up to civilians in 1999 and was restructured. Before that date, perhaps it had some contact with civilians, but after 1999, it branched out considerably, reaching out to the judiciary, security organizations, the media, politics, the business world, universities. . The gunmen have sustained a blow, the masterminds are out there.

To what extent has the core structure been touched in Ergenekon? What is the rest [of the structure] doing now? Are they seeking revenge?

In fact, it is obvious that they have touched the operational side of the structure. Look how the murders stopped at once after the case was launched. This means that the gunmen have been deactivated. If this operation had not been undertaken, we would have seen blood flowing all around the country. They would have attacked the Alevis, shot the intellectuals and non-Muslims. But the masterminds of Ergenekon are still out there. Some say, "I was involved in all the coups".

I don't think they have surrendered. What kind of moves can they make in the coming period?

Of course this structure has not been liquidated completely. If they were capable, and if they had the chance, they would assassinate the prime minister. We should be extremely careful: We have to be ready for a second closure case and start to roll up our sleeves to ward it off today. We sense a devious plan. They realized that the first closure case was prevented by the EU's opposition. Now there is a tremendous effort to erase that support. They are trying to convince the West that the AK Party is taking Turkey towards "Moderate Islam." We should not fall into this trap. The AK Party should launch a new series of efforts towards the EU, and it should succeed in eliminating these conspiracies. No one should be so naive as to think that Ergenekon has been completely liquidated. We are just setting off on the road.

25 May 2009, Monday
MEHMET GÜNDEM .STANBUL

You have an explanation about the lawyers, elites, and gunmen of the Ergenekon structure. Who are they?

Those who hope [to get] something out of the coups; who scare the public away because they are afraid of the people; those who think that they are the chief politicians in Turkey although they would not last in politics even for three days in any democratic country; those who are frightened by democracy, as if it were a monster.

Elites?

Those who actually do not deserve -- but owe to the military guardianship -- the position that they occupy. Those who think insulting people means progressivism; who think their memorized knowledge is intellectual power. Those who sit at the center of Ergenekon and pretend to be journalists, politicians and bosses.

Gunmen?

They are well known. We know them from [the] Susurluk [incident]. [They are] those who created the "death-triangle" around Sapanca-Adapazar.-Hendek; those who abducted people and threw their bodies in the wells; those who shot Dink in the head; those who showered the Council of State with a rain of bullets and then pretended to be pious Muslims.
There is an explicit example with the case of the .emdinli prosecutor; it speaks for itself. The .emdinli prosecutor has been turned into the living dead. After this example, actually it is a miracle that an investigation such as Ergenekon has been launched.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=176241&bolum=8

Why Not Bomb Iran? Because it is a WAR CRIME, a**hole!

2009-05-22T05:36:00.001-07:00

Why Not Bomb Iran? Because it is a WAR CRIME, a**hole!

Attacking another country is the SUPREME WAR CRIME.

(Justice Jackson, Nuremburg trials!)

Freedom of speech does not include shouting "fire" in a cinema. You US americans have been shat in the brains by STATE-TERROR. When will you wake up? 911 was an inside job and Iran has NEVER attacked ANY country. State terrorism is executed by WESTERN covert operations, check wikipedia GLADIO and for Goddess sake, get a grip on your gringo selves.
NAZIs know.

=============

Why Not Bomb Iran?

by Rowan Scarborough 05/21/2009

The Joint Chiefs of Staff have discussed options for ending Iran's nuclear arms program numerous times this decade, but one sticking point emerges: the U.S. lacks the level of intelligence needed to ensure air strikes stop Tehran's ability to build the bomb or at least set it back by decades.

The Joint Chiefs during the Bush years held a series of discussions in the secure "tank" at the Pentagon on the pros and cons of a strike, but never offered a unified position, according to a person familiar with the sessions. The topic came up in face-to-face meetings with President George W. Bush. Contrary to assertions by some liberal writers, Bush was never eager to bomb Iran, and did not press the chiefs to agree to strikes.

In the end, it came down to two glaring gaps: the U.S. is not certain on the location of all of Iran's dispersed nuclear research programs; and it does not know the engineering at some known sites: that is, how deep they are and what building materials protect them. If the engineering is not known, it complicates the process of picking the right type of penetrating bomb to destroy the target.

"What we know we could certainly hit," the source said. "We can't work what we don't know. It's the engineering. We don't always know ... The chiefs discussed questions about could this stuff be targeted and some one always said we don't know where all the stuff is."

This week, CIA Director Leon Panetta told a gathering that Iran is a "tough target" for collecting intelligence.

"Assessing Iran.s intentions is a top priority," he said. "This is not an easy target in terms of being able to gather intelligence. It.s a tough target. But just as important, we have to focus in order to develop an accurate picture of what.s going on. What are its capabilities? And we are focused on that threat."

The full scope of Iran's nuclear program is not known. Three main targets would be the Russian-designed nuclear plant at Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf; enrichment facilities at Natanz and a research reactor at Arak.

Iran has declared nine sites to the United Nations. But intelligence officials believe the actual list is much larger. One of the nine, Natanz, had been secret until revealed in 2006 by an Iranian opposition group.

The chiefs also discussed what effect a heavy bombing campaign would have on Iranians who oppose the mullah's harsh Islamic rule and hope one day to spur a democratic movement. "If you hit the people who like you they may not like you anymore," the person said. "Just blowing something up is not always the answer"

Defense Secretary Robert Gates came into office in 2006 calling air strikes an absolute last resort. He remains as defense chief for President Obama, who has scuttled talk of military action in favor of negotiating with Tehran.

The Joint Chiefs never presented a unified recommendation on strikes. But on one issue there was unanimity: all believed it was in the U.S. interest to open some type of diplomatic outpost in Tehran, be it an interest section, such as the one maintained in Cuba, or an embassy. This would lead to a wider understanding of Iranian thinking and a hub from which to collection intelligence.

"Before we go tear something up, we have to make sure we cross every single bridge," the source said, who summarized the chiefs' position as, "We have to exhaust all possibilities before we strike them."

In 2007, a national intelligence estimate -- the most authoritative spy study issued by the U.S. -- stated, "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program." This was based on intelligence that Iran has stopped work on an atomic warhead.

But since then, senior intelligence officials publicly distanced themselves from that NIE. They said it was not written precisely enough; that Iran is still pursuing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads; it was still seeking to enrich uranium needed for a bomb; and that they did not know if Iran had resumed work on a warhead.

Even the Obama White House says Iran is seeking the bomb.

"The object of having talks of engagement with Iran are not simply to say we've had talks with engagement," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said May 18. "It's to make substantive changes in their pursuit of nuclear weapons."

The EastWest Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, issued a report Tuesday saying Iran may be able to produce a crude nuclear weapon in one to three years and a full-blown atomic warhead by 2016. The group said that by February 2009 Iran had produced 2,222 pounds of low-enriched uranium, enough to convert to highly enriched uranium for one bomb. The institute said Iran in six to eight years could be able to place a warhead on a 1,200-mile-range missile. It said it is now impossible to predict when it might have an intercontinental missile capable of reaching the United States.

Mr. Scarborough is a national security writer who has written books on Donald Rumsfeld and the CIA, including the New York Times bestseller Rumsfeld's War.

USA comitted to Al Queda NONSENSE

2009-05-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

Thu May 21, 2009 at 08:43:50 AM PDT

In President Obama's speech today, Obama sounds the false note that the Taliban, that people from Pakistan/Afghan attacked us on 9/11.

For the first time since 2002, we are providing the necessary resources and strategic direction to take the fight to the extremists who attacked us on 9/11 in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We also heard this line from another prominent Democrat yesterday in an appearance on Minnesota Public Radio by Senator Klobuchar, where she said (at 43'30"), "the Taliban was responsible for the World Trade Center bombings, and the destruction of the World Trade Center."

This is such utter nonsense that I am surprised Klobuchar was not corrected by Gary Eichtin. The MPR listening audience is more literate than Bush's NASCAR watching fan base, but Klobuchar and Obama seem determined to use the Bush strategy of confidently repeating a falsehood until it is accepted as truth. I am sure that many listeners had seen the last Bill Moyer Journal, featuring Juan Cole, which I will quote later.

* ImpeccableLiberalCredentials's diary :: ::
*

We need to understand that the Pashtun/Pathan people and their cultural institutions are not one and the same with the "Al Qaeda" (and any other international terrorist groups) that remained in Afghanistan after the end of their utility to the anti-Soviet campaign of the CIA, other Western Powers and the Saudis. Some Pashtun militias apparently remain useful and continue to receive support from the Pakistani ISI as other ethnic groups in Afghanistan are thought to be used by India in the regional power struggle between India and Pakistan.

Who are the Taliban? Who is it that Obama and Klobuchar would have you believe are responsible for 9/11? From Bill Moyer's Journal - Transcript May 15, 2009

BILL MOYERS: Who are the Taliban and what do they want? What are their goals?

JUAN COLE: What we're calling the Taliban, it's actually a misnomer. There are, like, five different groups that we're swooping up and calling the Taliban. The Taliban, properly speaking, are seminary students. They were those refugee boys, many of them orphans, who went through the seminaries or Madrassas in northern Pakistan back in the nineties. And then who emerged as a fighting force. Then you have the old war lords who had fought with the Soviet Union, and were allied with the United States. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Jalaluddin Haqqani, they have formed insurgent groups to fight the Americans now. Because they had fought the Soviet occupation, they now see an American occupation, so they've turned on the United States. They were former allies.

So we're calling them Taliban. And then you have a lot of probably disorganized villagers whose poppy crops, for instance, were burned. And they're angry. So they'll hit a NATO or American checkpoint. So we're scooping all of this up. And then the groups in northern Pakistan who are yet another group. And we're calling it all Taliban.

What is the problem with exaggerating the threat of these tribal militias and their warlords, and disorganized resistance from the occupied population? How many Taliban are there, really? How many Taliban are now operating in Pakistan?

BILL MOYERS: How many of them?

JUAN COLE:Well, how many of them is impossible to know. But in Pakistan the estimates for fighters are small. 15 thousand. And the current military operation in the Swat Valley is pitting 15 thousand Pakistani troops against 4 thousand Taliban fighters.

That's what's being said. This is small. And the idea that these 4 thousand Taliban in Swat Valley, you know, can take over the capital of the country, or that they're going to spread into the other provinces, which are ethnic provinces, like the Punjab and Sindh, where they're very, very unpopular.

We have a Gallup Poll now, 60 percent of the Punjabis, who are the majority group in Pakistan, say that it's very negative that there should be Taliban operating in Pakistan. And only ten percent say that it's a positive. So in Pakistan, as a whole, this is a small group. It's not a mainstream, big, mass movement.

So our disproportionate reaction to a small group of well-publicized terrorists and militants will enable or require the Pakistani army to do what to these ethnic minorities?

BILL MOYERS: But how do you explain this mass exodus of, as you say, maybe a million people on the move out of that northwest region where the fighting is going on?

SHAHAN MUFTI: Well, it's very clear that why that happened is because the Pakistan army asked, or wanted the people, the civilian population, to move out of there because it was- is being fought as a guerilla war. So the militants are embedding themselves into the civilian population, which is their strength.

And so this movement out of these northern regions, where the Taliban had control, is a tactical operation. And moving the people out of there, unfortunately, also, it seems, to be military tactic right now

JUAN COLE: The Pakistani military is a tank, you know, traditional, almost central European kind of military. It was formed to fight India and most of the tanks and the troops are down on the border between India and Pakistan. And they're not trained to do counterinsurgency or counterterrorism.

So their idea of putting down the Taliban is to invade the Swat Valley. And if you've got 15,000 troops with artillery, helicopter gunships, fighter jets, operating a military operation in a valley with a million people in it, is going to produce massive displacement.

They're not sending in SWAT teams against these 4 thousand fighters, which I think is what they should have been doing. So when the US caused this. They pressured Pakistan's army to launch a conventional military attack on this small group of guerillas. And is going to inconvenience, you know, probably half a million people in a very dire way. And is that really going to settle the Pashtuns down?

SHAHAN MUFTI: I would say the Pakistani army feels strong pressure to show that they are performing. So whether they're using — whether they're being heavy-handed, whether they're using a lot of fireworks, to prove a point to the United States. And the government, as well as the army, do feel — who are recipients of large American aid, and all, but also clients of the American military — they feel, they do feel, I think, an obligation to perform well, at least to put up a show that they are performing, and that they're performing well.

BILL MOYERS: Are you two saying that the Taliban are not as great a threat to Pakistan and the United States as the United States has been claiming?

JUAN COLE: Well I have to be careful here. Because, on the one hand, I don't want to be interpreted as saying this is not a problem. I mean, you've got several thousand militants operating in the North-West Frontier Province. This is a problem. And it wasn't like that, you know, even ten years ago.The idea of Pakistani Taliban is a new idea. The Taliban were always an Afghan phenomenon. So it is a problem. And it needs to be dealt with. But what I'm saying is that let's just have a sense of proportion here.

The North-West Frontier Province is 10 percent of the Pakistan population. That's where this stuff is happening. And most of it is actually happening not in the Province itself, but in the Federally Administrated Tribal Regions. Which are kind of like our Indian reservations. Only 3.5 million people live there. It's the size of, like, New Hampshire. Pakistan is a country as big as California, Oregon and Washington rolled up in one, with a population of 165 million. So to take this threat, which is a threat locally, to the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas, to parts of the North-West Frontier Province, and to magnify it and to say, "Whoa, the Pakistani government is six months from falling, the Taliban is going to get their hands on nuclear weapons." The kinds of things that are being said in Washington, are just fantastical and some kind of science fiction film.

Are we pushing for a Sri Lanka-style solution that will require the indiscriminate slaughter of all civilians who can't or won't leave targeted areas in Pakistan? Is a short term boost ($110 million) in assistance to Pakistani IDPs enough compensation for the inevitable loss of life that the incautious and ill-informed rhetoric from Washington that Pakistan must destroy this poorly defined "Taliban in Pakistan" or that we will?. We will compel Pakistan to cut the ISI umbilical cord to the Pashtun warlords in Afghanistan, but does that imbalance India vs. Pakistan further?

Can we stop arming a massive military whose only clear focus is defending itself from India, and will clearly do anything to achieve parity with India, and start investing in the disciplined use of diplomacy and nonviolence?

Israel murders in UN Gaza

2009-05-18T07:47:00.001-07:00

Israel's immoral army

By Adel Safty, Special to Gulf News
Published: May 17, 2009, 23:16

Earlier this month, a United Nations investigation into the Israeli war in Gaza found that the Israeli army was responsible for at least seven attacks on UN installations which included schools and medical facilities. The war resulted in the death of around 1,400 Palestinians, and 13 Israelis.

The report said that the Israeli army used disproportionate force and had intentionally attacked UN facilities and civilians who had sought refuge in them. Even when the Israeli army was alerted by UN personnel, the attacks continued for two more hours.

The report also stated that a World Food Programme warehouse that was damaged, was "most likely" hit by rockets fired by Hamas or another Palestinian organisation, and condemned the action.

The report concluded that the Israeli army acted with "negligence or recklessness with regard to United Nations premises and to the safety of UN staff and other civilians within those premises".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said there would be no further investigation despite the report's recommendation that a full, impartial inquiry be conducted.

Israel dismissed the report as tendentious and out of touch with reality. Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, said that the report was one-sided.

But the most interesting reaction came from Israeli Minister of Defence Ehud Barak, who claimed that the Israeli army was "the most moral army in the world".

This claim has been one of the cornerstones of the remarkably successful hasbara (propaganda) campaigns that Israel has waged along with its endless military campaigns against the Palestinians and against its Arab neighbours.

If this were true, how do we explain the involvement of the Zionist and later the Israeli military in so many massacres of innocent civilians and so much lawless and immoral behaviour?

These include the Deir Yassein massacre in 1948, where the terrorist band Irgun - led by Menahim Begin, who would become prime minister in the 1970s - attacked this peaceful Palestinian village, massacred 240 men, women, and children and kept a few inhabitants alive to parade as captives. There was also the Qibya massacre in 1951, perpetrated by an Israeli army unit led by Ariel Sharon, also a future prime minister.

In his book The Iron Wall, the Israeli historian Avi Shlaim wrote: "The village had been reduced to a pile of rubble: 45 houses had been blown up, and 69 civilians, two-thirds of them women and children, had been killed."

Less well known atrocities include the Kufr Qasim massacre in 1956, when 49 Palestinian villagers returning from their fields unaware of an Israeli army-imposed curfew were shot at close range, their bodies thrown into a truck and dumped in a nearby thicket.

The events at Sabra and Chatila are more infamous. During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, then Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon allowed his Lebanese Phalangist allies into the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps, where they massacred an estimated 1,800 Palestinian men, women and children, as Israeli forces stood guard.

The "most moral army in the world" has also directed its rage against the UN, whose 1947 Partition Resolution was used by the Zionists to justify the establishment of Israel.

The year 1948 saw the assassination of UN peace mediator Count Folke Bernadotte - who had recommended that occupied Jerusalem be placed under Jordanian jurisdiction - by the Stern Gang, whose leader Yitzhak Shamir would also become prime minister of Israel in 1983. Another example was the Qana massacre in 1996, when a compound of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon came under sustained fire from Israeli forces, resulting in the deaths of 100 Lebanese villagers who had taken refuge in the UN compound.

A UN investigation into the Qana massacre concluded that "it is unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors."

During its confrontation with the children of the 1987 Intifada (uprising), the Israeli army routinely broke the bones of children caught throwing rocks to protest the occupation.

During its 2006 war in Lebanon, "the most moral army in the world" bombed civilian population centres, used banned cluster bombs, and refused to give the Lebanese authorities maps of the land mines it planted before leaving Lebanon.

The record is a bloody one; reckless and ruthless. If there is evidence that outweighs the above facts to lend credibility to the claim that Israel has "the most moral army in the world", let the Israeli minister of defence produce it. Otherwise, the facts speak for themselves; and they do not support the outlandish claim of moral superiority.

Adel Safty is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Siberian Academy of Public Administration, Russia. His new book Might Over Right: How the Zionists Took Over Palestine, is endorsed by Noam Chomsky, and published by Garnet, England. 2009.
Your comments

What UN is going to do after this? Any sanctions? Any army going there to stop this? What is the action plan after this? A military option is there to invade other countries without any proof. This is not the first act of Israel to ignore, if UN is says that the Israeli army acted with "negligence or recklessness with regard to United Nations premises and to the safety of UN staff and other civilians within those premises". What are they going to do now? I believe it's just a show and nothing will be done.
Emran
Ras Al Khaimah,UAE
www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10314505.html

illegal war crimes - gladio style

2009-05-14T11:09:00.001-07:00

Ulster on the Euphrates: The Anglo-American Dirty War in Iraq

Written by Chris Floyd

I. Paint it Black
Imagine a city torn by sectarian strife. Competing death squads roam the streets; terrorists stage horrific attacks. Local authority is distrusted and weak; local populations protect the extremists in their midst, out of loyalty or fear. A bristling military occupation exacerbates tensions at every turn, while offering prime targets for bombs and snipers. And behind the scenes, in a shadow world of double-cross and double-bluff, covert units of the occupying power run agents on both sides of the civil war, countenancing -- and sometimes directing -- assassinations, terrorist strikes, torture sessions, and ethnic cleansing.

Is this a portrait of Belfast during "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland? Or a picture of Baghdad today? It is both; and in both cases, one of Britain's most secret . and most criminally compromised . military units has plied its trade in the darkness, "turning" and controlling terrorist killers in a dangerous bid to wring actionable intelligence from blood and betrayal. And America's covert soldiers are right there with them, working side-by-side with their British comrades in the aptly named "Task Force Black," the UK's Sunday Telegraph reports.

Last week, the right-wing, pro-war paper published an early valentine to the "Joint Support Group," the covert unit whose bland name belies its dramatic role at the center of the Anglo-American "dirty war" in Iraq. In gushing, lavish, uncritical prose that could have been (and perhaps was) scripted by the unit itself, the Telegraph lauded the team of secret warriors as "one of the Coalition's most effective and deadly weapons in the fight against terror," running "dozens of Iraqi double-agents," including "members of terrorist groups."

What the story fails to mention is the fact that in its Ulster incarnation, the JSG . then known as the Force Research Unit (FRU) . actively colluded in the murder of at least 15 civilians by Loyalist deaths squads, and an untold number of victims killed, maimed and tortured by the many Irish Republican Army double-agents controlled by the unit. What's more, the man who commanded the FRU during the height of its depredations . Lt. Col. Gordon Kerr . is in Baghdad now, heading the hugger-mugger Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), a large counter-terrorism force made up of unnamed "existing assets" from the glory days in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.

This despite the fact that a 10-year, $100 million investigation by Britain's top police officer, Lord Stevens, confirmed in 2003 that the Kerr-led FRU "sanctioned killings" through "institutionalized collusion" with both Protestant and Catholic militias during the 1980s and 1990s. Stevens sent dossiers of evidence against Kerr and 20 other security apparatchiks to the Blair government's Director of Public Prosecutions, in the expectation that the fiery Scotsman and the others would be put on trial.

But instead prosecuting Kerr, Blair promoted him: first to a plum assignment as British military attaché in Beijing . effectively the number two man in all of UK military intelligence, as Scotland's Sunday Herald notes . then with the SRR posting to Baghdad, where Kerr and his former FRU mates now apply the "methods developed on the mean streets of Ulster during the Troubles," as the Telegraph breathlessly relates.

The Telegraph puff piece is naturally coy about revealing these methods, beyond the fact that, as in Ireland, the JSG uses "a variety of inducements ranging from blackmail to bribes" to turn Iraqi terrorists into Coalition agents. So to get a better idea of the techniques employed by the group in Baghdad, we must return to those "mean streets of Ulster" and the unit's reign of terror and collusion there, which has been thoroughly documented not only by the exhaustive Stevens inquiries, but also in a remarkable series of investigative reports by the Sunday Herald's Neil Mackay, and in extensive stories by the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, the Times and others.

We will also see how the operations of the JSG and "Task Force Black" dovetail with U.S. efforts to apply the lessons of its own dirty wars . such as the "Salvador Option" . to Iraq, as well as long-running Bush Administration initiatives to arm and fund "friendly" militias while infiltrating terrorist groups in order to "provoke them into action." It is indeed a picture painted in black, a glimpse at the dark muck that lies beneath the high-flown rhetoric about freedom and civilization forever issuing from the lips of the war leaders.

II. Whacking for the Peelers
Gregory Burns had a problem. He was one of Gordon Kerr's FRU informers planted deep inside the IRA, along with two of his friends, Johnny Dignam and Aidan Starrs. But as Mackay noted in a February 2003 story, the already-partnered Burns had acquired a girlfriend on the side, Margaret Perry, 26, a "civilian" Catholic with no paramilitary ties. Forbidden fruit is sweet, of course . but pillow talk is dangerous for an inside man. "Burns didn't keep his mouth shut and [Perry] found out he was working for British intelligence," an FRU officer told Mackay. "He tried to convince her he was a double-agent the IRA had planted in the [British] army . but she didn't buy it."

Burns called his FRU handlers and asked to come in from the cold. He'd been compromised, he said, and now he and his friends needed to get out, with new identities, relocation, good jobs . the usual payoff for trusted agents when the jig was up. But Kerr refused: "He said [Burns] should silence Perry," the FRU man told Mackay. Burns, panicking at thought of the IRA's horrific retributions against informers, insisted: he would have to kill the woman if they didn't bring him in, he told Kerr. Again Kerr refused.

And so Burns arranged a meeting with his lover, to "talk over" the situation. His friends, Aidan and Johnny, volunteered to drive her there: "On the way, they pulled into a forest, beat her to death and buried her in a shallow grave," Mackay notes. Two years later, when her body was found, the IRA put two and two together . and slowly tortured Burns and his two friends to death, after first extracting copious amounts of information about British intelligence operations in Ireland.

'In Kerr's eyes, Burns just wasn't important enough to resettle," the FRU source told the Sunday Herald. "So we ended up with four unnecessary deaths and the compromising of British army intelligence officers, which ultimately put soldiers' lives at risk. To Kerr, it was always a matter of the ends justifying the means."

Then again, Kerr could well afford to sacrifice a few informers here and there to the wrath of the IRA's dreaded "security unit" . because his own prize double agent was the head of that security unit. Codenamed "Stakeknife," Kerr's man presided over, and sometimes administered, the grisly torture-murders of up to 50 men during his tenure in the IRA's upper ranks. The victims included other British double agents who were sacrificed in order to protect Stakeknife's cover, as the Guardian and many other UK papers reported when the agent's work was revealed in 2003. ("Stakeknife" was later identified in the press as Alfredo Scappaticci . an Irishman despite the Italian name, although he continues to deny the charge.)

The FRU also "knowingly allowed soldiers, [police] officers and civilians to die at the hands of IRA bombers in order to protect republican double agents," the Sunday Herald's investigations found. As Mackay reports: "FRU sources said around seven police and army personnel died as a result of military intelligence allowing IRA bombs to be placed during Kerr's time in command of the FRU. They estimate that three civilians also died this way, with casualties in the hundreds."

But some of the worst excesses came from the FRU's handling of operatives on the other side, in the fiercely pro-British Protestant militia the Ulster Defense Association (UDA). Here, among the Loyalists, Kerr's top double agent was Brian Nelson, who became head of intelligence for the UDA. As John Ware put it in the Guardian: "Kerr regarded Nelson as his jewel in the crown. For the next three years [from 1987], Nelson colluded with murder gangs to shoot IRA suspects. Month after month, armed and masked men crashed into homes. Sometimes they got the wrong address or shot the wrong person."

Such as Gerald Slane, a 27-year-old Belfast man shot down in front of his three children. A gun had been found dumped on his property; this, and his Catholicism, was enough to get him assassinated at the order of Kerr's man Nelson. Afterwards, it was found that Slane had no IRA connections.

Another "wrong person" killed by the FRU's agents was the Belfast attorney Pat Finucane, who was shot 14 times in front of his wife and children. Finucane was a civil rights activist who had defended both Catholics and Protestants, but was considered an IRA sympathizer by Loyalists . and a thorn in the side by British authorities. He was killed at Nelson's order by a fellow FRU informer in the UDA, Ken Barrett, who was convicted of the murder but freed last year after as part of an amnesty program in the Northern Ireland peace process. Barrett was unapologetic about his FRU "wetwork" on Finucane. "The peelers [authorities] wanted him whacked," he told a BBC documentary team after his release. "We whacked him and that is the end of the story."

Kerr gave Nelson packages of intelligence files to help facilitate the assassination of UDA targets, including at least four "civilians" with no IRA ties, the Stevens inquiry found. The FRU also obtained "restriction orders" from other British security and military units in Northern Ireland, whereby they would pull their forces from an area when Kerr's UDA agents were going to make a hit there, allowing the killers to get in and get out without hindrance, investigator Nick Davies reports.

Yet the FRU was wary of sharing its own intelligence with other security services . which was the ostensible reason for running the double-agents in the first place. Instead, Kerr engaged in fierce turf wars with other agencies, while "stovepiping" much of his intelligence to the top circles of the UK government, including the cabinet-level Intelligence Committee chaired by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Indeed, when Nelson was finally exposed and brought to trial on five counts of conspiracy to commit murder, Kerr testified in his behalf, noting for the court that Nelson's intelligence "product and his reporting was passed through the intelligence community and at a high level, and from that point of view he has to be considered a very important agent."

As one FRU man told Mackay: "Under Kerr's command.the mindset was one of 'the right people would be allowed to live and wrong people should die.'"

This is the "mindset" now operating in the heart of the Green Zone in Baghdad, where the JSG is carrying out . we are told in glowing terms . precisely the same mission it had in Ulster. a unit which has allowed its agents to torture, murder and commit acts of terrorism, including actions that killed local civilians and the soldiers and intelligence operatives of their own country.

III. The White House Green Light
Of course, Kerr and his Baghdad black-op crew are not alone in the double-dealing world of Iraqi counterinsurgency. The Pentagon's ever-expanding secret armies are deeply enmeshed in such efforts as well. As Sy Hersh has reported ("The Coming Wars," New Yorker, Jan. 24, 2005), after his re-election in 2004, George W. Bush signed a series of secret presidential directives that authorized the Pentagon to run virtually unrestricted covert operations, including a reprise of the American-backed, American-trained death squads employed by authoritarian regimes in Central and South America during the Reagan Administration, where so many of the Bush faction cut their teeth . and made their bones.

"Do you remember the right-wing execution squads in El Salvador?. a former high-level intelligence official said to Hersh. "We founded them and we financed them. The objective now is to recruit locals in any area we want. And we aren.t going to tell Congress about it." A Pentagon insider added: "We.re going to be riding with the bad boys." Another role model for the expanded dirty war cited by Pentagon sources, said Hersh, was Britain's brutal repression of the Mau Mau in Kenya during the 1950s, when British forces set up concentration camps, created their own terrorist groups to confuse and discredit the insurgency, and killed thousands of innocent civilians in quashing the uprising.

Bush's formal greenlighting of the death-squad option built upon an already securely-established base, part of a larger effort to turn the world into a "global free-fire zone" for covert operatives, as one top Pentagon official told Hersh. For example, in November 2002 a Pentagon plan to infiltrate terrorist groups and "stimulate" them into action was uncovered by William Arkin, then writing for the Los Angeles Times. The new unit, the "Proactive, Pre-emptive Operations Group," was described in the Pentagon documents as "a super-Intelligence Support Activity" that brings "together CIA and military covert action, information warfare, intelligence and cover and deception."

Later, in August 2004, then deputy Pentagon chief Paul Wolfowitz appeared before Congress to ask for $500 million to arm and train non-governmental "local militias" to serve as U.S. proxies for "counter-insurgency and "counterterrorist" operations in "ungoverned areas" and hot spots around the world, Agence France Presse (and virtually no one else) reported at the time. These hired paramilitaries were to be employed in what Wolfowitz called an "arc of crisis" that just happened to stretch across the oil-bearing lands and strategic pipeline routes of Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

By then, the Bush Administration had already begun laying the groundwork for an expanded covert war in the hot spot of Iraq. In November 2003, it created a "commando squad" drawn from the sectarian militias of five major Iraqi factions, as the Washington Post reported that year. Armed, funded and trained by the American occupation forces, and supplied with a "state-of-the-art command, control and communications center" from the Pentagon, the new Iraqi commandos were loosed on the then-nascent Iraqi insurgency . despite the very prescient fears of some U.S. officials "that various Sunni or Shiite factions could eventually use the service to secretly undermine their political competitors," as the Post noted.

And indeed, in early 2005 . not long after Bush's directives loosed the "Salvador Option" on Iraq . the tide of death-squad activity began its long and bloody rise to the tsunami-like levels we see today. Ironically, the first big spike of mass torture-murders, chiefly in Sunni areas at the time, coincided with "Operation Lightning," a much ballyhooed effort by American and Iraqi forces to "secure" Baghdad. The operation featured a mass influx of extra troops into the capital; dividing the city into manageable sectors, then working through them one by one; imposing hundreds of checkpoints to lock down all insurgent movements; and establishing a 24-hour presence of security and military forces in troubled neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported in May 2005. In other words, it was almost exactly the same plan now being offered as Bush's "New Way Forward," the controversial "surge."

But the "Lightning" fizzled in a matter of weeks, and the death squads grew even bolder. Brazen daylight raids by "men dressed in uniforms" of Iraqi police or Iraqi commandos or other Iraqi security agencies swept up dozens of victims at a time. For months, U.S. "advisers" to Iraqi security agencies . including veterans of the original "Salvador Option" . insisted that these were Sunni insurgents in stolen threads, although many of the victims were Sunni civilians. Later, the line was changed: the chief culprits were now "rogue elements" of the various sectarian militias that had "infiltrated" Iraq's institutions.

But as investigative reporter Max Fuller has pointed out in his detailed examination of information buried in reams of mainstream news stories and public Pentagon documents, the vast majority of atrocities then attributed to "rogue" Shiite and Sunni militias were in fact the work of government-controlled commandos and "special forces," trained by Americans, "advised" by Americans and run largely by former CIA assets. As Fuller puts it: "If there are militias in the Ministry of Interior, you can be sure that they are militias that stand to attention whenever a U.S. colonel enters the room." And perhaps a British lieutenant colonel as well

With the Anglo-American coalition so deeply embedded in dirty war . infiltrating terrorist groups, "stimulating" them into action," protecting "crown jewel" double-agents no matter what the cost, "riding with the bad boys," greenlighting the "Salvador Option" . it is simply impossible to determine the genuine origin of almost any particular terrorist outrage or death squad atrocity in Iraq. All of these operations take place in the shadow world, where terrorists are sometimes government operatives and vice versa, and where security agencies and terrorist groups interpenetrate in murky thickets of collusion and duplicity. This moral chaos leaves "a kind of blot/To mark the full-fraught man and best indued/With some suspicion," as Shakespeare's Henry V says.

What's more, the "intelligence" churned out by this system is inevitably tainted by the self-interest, mixed motives, fear and criminality of those who provide it. The ineffectiveness of this approach can be seen in the ever-increasing, many-sided civil war that is tearing Iraq apart. If these covert operations really are intended to quell the violence, they clearly have had the opposite effect. If they have some other intention, the pious defenders of civilization . who approve these activities with promotions, green lights and unlimited budgets . aren't telling.

CIA Torture - USA war crimes

2009-05-08T05:50:00.001-07:00

History of CIA Torture: Unraveling the Web of Deceit, Part I

Military Torture, Legal Fig Leaves & Premature Exculpation...

Blogged by Ernest A. Canning

"When any modern state tortures even a few victims, the stigma compromises its majesty and corrupts its integrity. Its officials must spin an ever more complex web of lies that, in the end, weakens the bonds of trust and the rule of law that are the sine qua non of a democracy. And, beyond its borders, allies and enemies turn away in collective revulsion." - Prof. Alfred W. McCoy, A Question of Torture (2006).

Truth and justice are essential components of democracy and the rule of law. We cannot move forward unless we honestly examine our past. Accuracy is vital to every decision we make, be it impeachment, prosecution or a restoration of our nation.s honor and integrity.

This is the first in a four-part series of articles which will strive to correct misperceptions arising from the erroneous blending of military and CIA torture. This task has become especially relevant now that the Justice Department's the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), the very section which had issued the torture memos, tasked by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey with investigating itself, has now released a recommendation that none of the authors of the torture memos be prosecuted. This recommendation stands in stark contrast to our nation's post-World War II decision to prosecute German judges for war crimes at Nuremberg.

Part I addresses the relatively public involvement of the U.S. military and private contractors at Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq. It will dispel the notion that the Bush White House sought out independent legal opinions from the OLC before deciding to torture.

Part II will discuss the CIA's dark beginnings, including its recruitment of former Nazis, its devotion to covert "psychological operations" as a founding principle, the experiments on unwitting subjects that were part of a maniacal quest to crack the code of human consciousness, and the scientific studies that led to KUBARK, the CIA's torture manual.

Part III provides a vital historical account of CIA torture applied by surrogates in developing nations as a component of empire, an account that belies the suggestion made by the The New York Times that CIA torture first arose as an aftermath of 9/11.

Part IV will address the CIA's involvement in extraordinary rendition and an ultra-secret system of .black-sites. into which .ghost detainees. would disappear. It will show how the techniques used on "ghost detainees" are the culmination of a half-century of CIA research and practices...

Military Torture

The 263-page Senate Armed Services Committee Report [PDF] (the .Levin Report.), whose release was inexplicably delayed from its Nov. 20, 2008 completion to April 22, 2009, tracks the military.s involvement* in torture. It reveals that in December 2001, more than a month prior to the issuance of a Feb. 7, 2002 Presidential memorandum, erroneously** declaring that the Geneva Convention's proscriptions on torture did not apply to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, the DoD.s Office of General Counsel .solicited information on detainee "exploitation" from the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA), the .agency that oversees military Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) training,. whose techniques are [emphasis added] .based, in part, on Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean war to elicit false confessions..

In the SERE program U.S. military personnel, under careful medical controls, are taught to resist unlawful interrogation practices (aka torture). SERE techniques include forced nudity, stress positions, hooding, sleep disruption, loud music and flashing lights, exposure to extreme temperatures, face and body slaps and, in the Navy's SERE school, waterboarding.

The Levin Report discusses how SERE techniques were .reverse engineered. for use at Guantanamo, by the U.S.. This was approved at the highest levels of the Bush/Cheney cabal,*** despite multiple legal memoranda from all branches of the armed forces challenging its legality and despite a July 2002 JAPRA memo which noted that aside from its .myriad legal, ethical, or moral implications,. torture produces unreliable intelligence. The Levin report reflects modification of the SERE techniques to exploit fear, such as the use of vicious dogs. Levin includes an historical account of how these modified and reverse engineered SERE techniques migrated from Guantanamo to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Levin report contains neither an in-depth analysis of the CIA history and application of torture nor the CIA.s role in extraordinary rendition and methods that were exclusive to .ghost detainees.. Levin does not address the role of private contractors, like CACI International Inc. and Titan Corp. (now L-3 Services), named in lawsuits brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights ("CCR"), Al Shimari v. CACI and Saleh v. Titan. The CCR alleges the companies engaged in torture while providing interrogation and translation services at Abu Ghraib.
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*In addition to the previous complaint filed against Bush administration lawyers, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón has opened an investigation "into torture allegations against US military personnel at...Guantánamo..."

**In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) the Supreme Court rejected the Administration's position. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which mandates that all detainees .in all circumstances be treated humanely. and which proscribes .outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment. applies to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

***Rumsfeld, who signed a Dec. 2002 memo authorizing torture at Guantanamo, displayed a despicable cowardice by asserting the emerging Abu Ghraib torture photos were the work of .a few bad apples.. Today, as low level former MPs languish in military prisons because of their role in carrying out those policies he specifically approved, Rumsfeld walks about, a free and wealthy man.

Legal Fig-Leaves

President Obama.s initial rush to shield CIA torturers on the basis of their supposed reliance on the quasi-legal memos overlooked a critical issue, now partially resolved by a newly released summary [PDF] sent by Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV to Attorney General Eric Holder for a declassification review. It reveals that Abu Zubayda was .badly injured in the firefight that brought him into custody. in March 2002; that he was initially interrogated by FBI agents while receiving medical care; that contacts in which the CIA sought NSC approval for application of its torture techniques began in April 2002 and that the National Security Advisor authorized application of CIA torture techniques, .subject to a determination of legality by. the OLC.*

The Levin Report reflects that the torture memos were issued by the OLC.s Jay Bybee only .after consultation with senior Administration attorneys, including then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and then-Counsel to the Vice President David Addington..

This seemingly innocuous notation says a great deal. As revealed by Jane Mayer.s July 3, 2006 New Yorker article, "The Hidden Power,. the former Vice President and his chief legal counsel (who later became Cheney's chief of staff), David Addington were the driving force behind the Bush regime's unprecedented claims of dictatorial executive powers.

Addington, a man described by Lawrence Wilkerson, Secretary of State Colin Powell.s former assistant, as .utterly ruthless,. began his government career as assistant CIA general counsel where he aided William Casey.s resistance to Congressional oversight. He served as a staff attorney on the U.S. House/Senate select committee investigating the Iran/Contra scandal, assisting Congressman Richard Cheney in preparation of the Iran-Contra Minority Report. Although the scandal produced 17 felony convictions, the Minority Report, Mayer observes, made the .outlandish. claim it was .Congress --- not the President --- [which] had overstepped its authority, by encroaching on the President.s foreign-policy powers..

According to Mayer, Addington dominated the agenda. She quoted an administration source: ..If you.re not sufficiently ideological, he would cut the ground out from under you... Former Pentagon lawyer Richard Schriffrin described a tense multi-agency White House meeting in which Addington would simply dismiss them. .He didn.t recognize the wisdom of the other lawyers. He was always right...He knew the answers...If you favored international law, you were in danger of being called .soft on terrorism... Mayer said a number of .talented top lawyers who challenged Addington...left the Administration under stressful circumstances..

As we observed previously in "Prosecute or Perish," Addington was well aware that innocents were being held at Guantanamo. He didn.t care.
"Torture isn.t important to Addington as a scientific matter, good or bad, or whether it works or not,. the Administration lawyer, who is familiar with these debates [told Mayer]. "It.s more about his philosophy of Presidential power. He thinks that if the President wants torture he should get torture. He always argued for 'maximum flexibility'."

Addington, Bybee and DoD General Counsel William J. Haynes were included amongst the six Bush administration attorneys who were targeted by Spanish prosecutors in the war crimes complaint they filed with Judge Baltasar Garzón. The Levin Report reveals that Haynes quashed a review by .then-Captain (now Rear Admiral) Jane Dalton, Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. which .discussed the military services' concerns. about application of reverse engineered, SERE techniques to detainees.

The evidence is compelling. The President and Vice President wanted torture. They had no intention to leave little matters like international and federal laws forbidding torture to stand in the way. The notion that they relied on legal opinions from an independent OLC is a farce. Any doubts about that were conclusively resolved when the White House sought to collect and destroy all copies of a dissenting legal memo from former State Department attorney Philip Zelikow.
_____
*Where the Levin Report says that Condoleezza Rice, then the National Security Advisor, "approved" the CIA techniques subject to OLC approval, Rice claims she "didn't authorize anything." She merely "conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency...." Echoing Frost/Nixon, when pressed as to whether waterboarding was torture, Rice replied: .By definition, if it was authorized by the President, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture." Classic: Those who ordered torture can't be held to account because they were merely "conveying" authorization, and besides, if the President says it's okay to torture, then torture's legal.

Premature Exculpation

In his haste to evade his obligation to faithfully execute the law with respect to those who supposedly relied upon the OLC legal opinions, President Obama not only ignored the long history of CIA torture that will be addressed in subsequent articles, but the significant issue of whether, in terms of the Bush regime's so-called "war on terror," the CIA was already engaged in torture and sought the OLC opinions as a retroactive justification for crimes already committed.

Where the Aug. 2002 Bybee torture memo suggests that the CIA was seeking OLC approval "before" it tortured Abu Zubaydah, there is reliable evidence that Abu Zubaydah was subjected to torture long before Bybee conjured his now infamous memos.

Abu Zubaydah initially cooperated with FBI agents, one of whom tended to his wounds. But the CIA, which would later destroy some 92 interrogation tapes, insisted on taking over the interrogation. After Zubaydah was transferred to a CIA black site, the two FBI agents complained about "brutal tactics." They were told the tactics had been approved "at the highest level."

It is likely that Zubaydah was not the first Bush-era victim of CIA torture. In 2001 John Walker Lindh, .The American Taliban,. was captured by the Northern Alliance and taken to a courtyard inside a Northern Alliance fort where he was .brutally. questioned by two CIA agents. This sparked a riot that resulted in the death of the CIA.s Michael Spann. Recaptured, Lindh was transferred to Bagram Airbase, by which time he was .dehydrated, starving, and suffering from a festering bullet wound in his leg.. He was then .duct-taped to a gurney, blindfolded with tape, and left in a dark, sealed, unheated metal shipping container..His leg was left untreated for days. Allegedly tortured.he was repeatedly threatened with death and.when he asked for a lawyer,. Lindh was told .nobody knows you.re here.. He .cracked and signed a confession.. D. Lindorf & B. Olashansky, The Case for Impeachment (2006)

Lindorf & Olshansky reveal that, after his return to the US, Lindh.s family hired attorney James Brosnahan, who moved to suppress the confession, seeking to call as witnesses both soldiers from Bagram and Guantanamo detainees. Faced with possible revelations of CIA torture, Michael Chertoff, then the head of the Justice Department.s criminal division, offered a plea arrangement in which the government would drop the terrorism, attempted murder and conspiracy to kill Americans charges if Lindh would plead guilty to the charges of providing assistance to a banned country and carrying a weapon. Chertoff's offer required that Lindh .sign a letter saying he had .never been mistreated...** Lindh accepted
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*We previously observed that Jay S. Bybee, the author of these torture memos, is now a judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal. We have called for his impeachment. The recipient of the second Bybee torture memo, and very much involved in providing a description of the CIA techniques under review, John Rizzo, was and still is the Acting General Counsel of the CIA. It is not clear why President Obama has not acted to remove and replace Rizzo.

**I mentioned in an earlier post that the day after my father was waterboarded during WWII, and forced to sign a false confession that he was a British agent, the Japanese Kempetai, unsatisfied by his wobbly signature, gave him the choice of again signing or undergoing another round of waterboarding. I neglected to mention that, at that time, my father was given a second document that stated he'd signed the first of his own "free will." What is it about people who torture that makes them insist the victim sign off on the lie that their victim had "never been mistreated"?

===

Ernest A. Canning has been an active member of the California State Bar since 1977 and has practiced in the fields of civil litigation and workers' compensation at both the trial and appellate levels. He graduated cum laude from Southwestern University School of Law where he served as a student director of the clinical studies department and authored the Law Review Article, Executive Privilege: Myths & Realities. He received an MA in political science at Cal State University Northridge and a BA in political science from UCLA. He is also a Vietnam vet (4th Infantry, Central Highlands 1968).

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